Australian middle-distance stars Jessica Hull and Oliver Hoare stamped their credentials as Paris Olympics medal contenders on a record-breaking day at the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon.
Kenyan runner Beatrice Chebet produced the standout performance of the meet, smashing the women’s 10,000m world record by nearly seven seconds, while reigning world champion Josh Kerr took down the great Jakob Ingebrigtsen to win a stacked Bowerman Mile.
Hull also rewrote the record books on Saturday (Sunday AEST), reclaiming the Australian 1500m mark by finishing second to Ethiopian Diribe Welteji in three minutes 55.97 seconds. The 27-year-old has already locked in her spot on the Olympic team.
“It’s a great confidence booster for Paris,” she said. “I was so consistent last year at 3:57 and that got me seventh in Budapest (at last year’s world championships).
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“If I look at the landscape of the sport and look at the times that I would need to medal, I need to be consistent at that mid-to-low 3:50s. So getting a 3:55 on the board today gives me confidence and I think we will find a little bit more throughout the season.”
Among the runners left in Hull’s wake were third-placed American Elle St Pierre and Britain’s Laura Muir, the Tokyo Olympics silver medallist. Australian Linden Hall – whose national record was broken by Hull – was 12th in 4:01.97.
Oliver Hoare, who won the 1500m at Los Angeles Grand Prix last week, finished ninth in Oregon. Photograph: Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports
In the lead-up to the Diamond League meet, Commonwealth 1500m champion Hoare said the field for the Bowerman Mile was stronger than that for an Olympic final and the race lived up the billing.
Olympic champ Ingebrigtsen shaped as the man to beat, but Kerr was the strongest over the final 600 metres as he won in 3:45.34, bettering Steve Cram’s 39-year-old British mile record in the process.
Hoare held on for ninth spot in 3:49.11, which made him the fourth Australian to go under the Olympic qualifying standard for the metric mile.
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Teen star Cameron Myers – who was 11th in Eugene – national record holder Adam Spencer and Stewart McSweyn also have Olympic qualifiers and Jesse Hunt is well capable of doing the same. But only three of them will be on the start-line in Paris.
National record holder Catriona Bisset did her chances of grabbing the sole remaining Australian Olympic vacancy in the women’s 800m no harm by finishing sixth in 1:58.44. British star Keeley Hodgkinson powered home to take the win in 1:55.78.
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Kenyan Chebet cruised to victory in the women’s 10,000m in 28:54.14, smashing the previous world mark of 29:01.03 set by Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey three years ago.
A world silver and bronze medallist in the 5000m, the win qualified Chebet to compete in the 10,000m at the Paris Olympics. Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay was second in 29:05.92 and Kenyan Lilian Kasait Rengeruk took third in 29:26.89.
Chebet rarely competes in the 10,000m, having not run in the event since 2020.
“For Paris, I’m going to double. But my target is to run 5000 first, then 10,000 comes second,” she said. “Because this is my first 10,000 outside the country to run, and I’m so happy to run a world record.”
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US sprint stars Christian Coleman (9.95) and Sha’Carri Richardson (10.83) won the 100m races in Eugene.
Watch the king tides crash against the Nye Beach shoreline on the Oregon Coast on Saturday, January 11, 2020.
David Davis, Statesman Journal
A woman died when she sustained critical injuries after falling into the Devil’s Punchbowl on the Oregon coast near Newport on June 3, the Depoe Bay Fire District said.
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First responders were dispatched to the Devil’s Punchbowl State Natural Area after receiving reports of a person falling into the park’s famous collapsed sea cave at about 12:25 p.m., officials said in a release.
Firefighters rappelled to provide life support care after first responders determined the woman had sustained critical injuries. Fire district officials decided to call the U.S. Coast Guard and request a helicopter to hoist her out of the cave.
The Coast Guard helicopter lifted the woman from the cave and landed in the parking lot of the state park, where firefighter-paramedics provided care while she was flown to a trauma center in the Willamette Valley. Officials did not say which hospital they took the woman to.
The woman, whom officials did not name, died at the hospital.
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Eder Campuzano is the local news editor for the Statesman Journal. He can can be reached at ecampuzano@statesmanjournal.com. Find him on Bluesky at @ederc.bsky.socialor Threads @ederc
PORTLAND, Ore. — A man accused of killing several women and dumping their bodies in the Portland area was arraigned Wednesday on a fifth murder charge.
Jesse Calhoun’s defense attorney entered a not guilty plea on his behalf in a Portland courtroom where victims’ family members were present. The hearing, during which Calhoun remained silent, came after he was indicted last week on the most recent second-degree murder charge over the death of Ashley Real, 22, in 2023.
Calhoun has now been charged with five counts of second-degree murder for five victims, along with four counts of abuse of a corpse. The victims’ bodies were found over multiple months in early 2023, sparking concern at the time that a serial killer might be targeting young women in the region.
Calhoun was previously indicted in the deaths of Kristin Smith, 22; Charity Perry, 24; Bridget Webster, 31; and Joanna Speaks, 32.
He remains in custody at the Multnomah County Detention Center. His defense attorneys declined to comment.
Real, Perry, Webster and Smith were found in northwestern Oregon, while Speaks was found near an abandoned barn in southwestern Washington. Their bodies were found in a roughly 100-mile radius, including in wooded areas and in a culvert.
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Jose Real, Ashley Real’s father, was in tears as he spoke with reporters after the hearing. He recalled memories of watching her grow up and playing with her brother.
“I never thought or imagined that my family would experience something like this,” he said through a Spanish interpreter. “She had a heart of gold.”
Masciell Real, Ashley’s sister, also spoke through tears.
“I think being in that courtroom today and being able to see him, and know that he is behind bars now, it takes the weight off my shoulders knowing that he isn’t around and free to cause any harm to any other women out there,” she said. “But it also doesn’t take away the fact that my sister isn’t here anymore.”
Relatives of other victims were also present.
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“We’ve all experienced the worst thing that could ever happen to you, and it’s incredibly hard to see one of the other families hurt the way we do,” said Melissa Smith, mother of Kristin Smith.
Jose Real previously told The Associated Press that he had called police in November 2022 after his daughter showed up crying at his Portland home, saying she had been choked by Calhoun. She had marks on her throat, he said, and he took her to a hospital.
Real said at the time that an initial police report was taken but that the case was then transferred to a different jurisdiction and it was difficult to reach those overseeing it. Details of the attack were first reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
His daughter’s body was found in May 2023 by a man who was fishing in a pond southeast of Portland.
Calhoun was arrested in June 2023 on unrelated parole warrants and then indicted in 2024 and 2025 in the other four women’s deaths. The initial indictment came weeks before Calhoun was due to be released from state prison, where he was returned in 2023 to finish serving a four-year term for assaulting a police officer, trying to strangle a police dog, burglary and other charges.
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He was initially released in 2021, a year early, because he helped fight wildfires in 2020 under a prison firefighting program. Gov. Tina Kotek revoked the commutation in 2023 when police began investigating him in the deaths.
The University of Oregon’s Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to approve a $1.55 billion operating budget for the next fiscal year.
But they asked university leadership to return with an amended proposal by Dec. 15, when more details about future budget cuts will be known.
FILE — The Board of Trustees recently approved next year’s budget for the University of Oregon. The vote comes several weeks after the school’s president announced that he wants the university to reduce its annual budget as revenues and out-of-state enrollment decline.
Brian Bull / KLCC
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The vote comes several weeks after University of Oregon President Karl Scholz announced that he wants the school to reduce its annual budget by around $65 million.
At a trustees meeting Monday, Scholz said the estimated budget shortfall for next year is just around $23 million. But he said out-of-state enrollment is below historical norms for the second year in a row, and it’s unlikely to bounce back.
“One year can be an aberration. Two years is a pattern,” said Scholz. “And I believe we have to treat it as a new reality.”
Scholz said in May that discussions about the budget would happen over a six-month period. He said no final decisions about cuts would be made over this summer.
On Monday, UO Senate President Dyana Mason told trustees that the Senate had approved a new process to allow for community feedback in the cost-cutting process.
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Mason said the provost will work with the deans on budget proposals, finding “clear rationale” for why programs are considered for elimination.
The provost would then bring those proposals to the Senate Committee for Academic Modifications—which includes staff, faculty and students—for feedback.
Once the plans are nearly finalized, the Senate could then hold a period for public comment.
Mason told trustees that a six-month timeline is better than the three months that frustrated some staff last year, but she recommended taking however much time is necessary.
“The worst situation would be rushing forward to make decisions without appropriate evidence, data, feedback from the people that are most in the know about the impact on our students,” said Mason.
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UO’s Board of Trustees Chair Steve Holwerda said that every week that university delays the decisions could cost them millions of dollars.
Nathan Wilk is a reporter with the KLCC newsroom.This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
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