Athletics: Prefontaine Classic to be held near San Francisco

[February 13, 2019]    (Reuters) - The Prefontaine Classic, North America's only Diamond League meeting, will be held at California's Stanford University this year as work continues on a new world championship stadium at the traditional site in Eugene, Oregon, officials said on Tuesday.

Stanford’s Cobb Track near San Francisco was deemed the best choice for the June 30 meet after an extensive search on the U.S. West Coast, meet director Tom Jordan said in a statement.

Officials have razed the 100-year-old Hayward Field in Eugene and construction is underway on a 12,500-seat facility that will be expandable to nearly 30,000 for the 2021 world athletics championships, the first to be held in the United States.

Completion is set for 2020 with Eugene also hosting the U.S. Olympic trials for the Tokyo Olympics the same year.

(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

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