EUGENE, Oregon: Defending champion Allyson Felix finished third in the Prefontaine Classic 400m and world champion Caster Semenya placed second in the 800m in her American debut Saturday. Amantle Montsho of Botswana won the 400 in 50.59 seconds, while Felix crossed in 51.41 to trail fellow American Debbie Dunn by 0.04. Felix is a three-time world champion and a two-time Olympic silver medalist in the 200. Semenya timed 1 minute, 58.88 seconds to finish 0.59 behind Kenia Sinclair of Jamaica. Jamaican Steve Mullings won the 100 in a meet record 9.80, the third best time on American soil. Justin Gatlin, who last year came off a four-year suspension for doping, finished sixth in 9.97, his first result under 10 seconds since his return. In the first meeting between American Carmelita Jeter and Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser since 2009, Jeter won the 100 in a meet record 10.70, a world best this season. Fraser finished fourth in 10.95. The pair have met 15 times, with Jeter holding an 8-7 advantage. Walter Dix defended his Pre 200 title in 20.19 seconds. He set the meet record in the event last year running in 19.72. American David Oliver, the bronze medalist in the 110 hurdles at the 2008 Olympics, won the event in 12.94, besting Liu Xiang of China by 0.06. Angelo Taylor, two-time Olympic gold medalist in the 400 hurdles, won the 400 in 45.16. South Africa's Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee known as the Blade Runner, finished last in the field in 46.33. Pistorius needs to run the event in 45.25 to qualify for the worlds in South Korea this summer. American Bernard Lagat won the rarely contested 2-mile run in 8:13.62, while Ryan Gregson of Australia ran the international mile in 3:53.86. Haron Keitany of Kenya won the elite bowerman mile in 3:49.09. Abubaker Kaki Khamis won the men's 800 in a meet record 1:43.68, Kenya's Ezekiel Kemboi won the men's steeplechase, and Ukranian triple jumper Olha Saladukha won her event with a leap of 14.98 meters on her 29th birthday. American Lasinda Demus defended her Pre title in the women's 400 hurdles in 53.31, best in the world this season. Ethiopia's Gelete Burka of the Netherlands won the 1,500. Nadeshda Ostapchuk of Belarus won the women's shot put with a throw of 20.59, while Germany's Robert Harting won the discus with a throw of 68.40. Countryman Raul Spank won the high jump with a leap of 2.32.
