Virtual Weltklasse Zurich event that will be showcased simultaneously at seven venues in six countries will feature Felix, Stefanidi, Moline and Craddock competing for first time at renovated Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut, Calif.

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

It won’t exactly be the grand unveiling of the new Hilmer Lodge Stadium that Mt. San Antonio College had hoped for this year, but there will be plenty of familiar faces christening the new track Thursday in Walnut, Calif., as part of the Weltklasse Zurich Inspiration Games.

For the first time since 2015, there will be competition at the venue that has been an annual showcase for “where the world’s best athletes compete” at the Mt. SAC Relays, which were interrupted this April following 61 consecutive years of meets as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.

But the renovated Hilmer Lodge Stadium will play host to virtual competition in four individual events and one relay, with former Mt. SAC Relays winners Allyson Felix, Katerina Stefanidi, Georganne Moline and Omar Craddock all scheduled to participate in a venue without fans, one of seven sites on two continents being used to stage one of the most innovative track and field showcases in history.

Felix and Stefanidi are among 30 Olympic gold medalists and World champions scheduled to participate during the one-day virtual meet, with Swiss Timing and multiple TV screens used to synchronize and coordinate the simultaneous competition across six countries, including France, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland. The U.S. will be represented by venues at Mt. SAC and IMG Academy in Florida.

Competition begins at Mt. SAC at 10:30 a.m. PDT and is expected to conclude by 12:30 p.m. PDT. The broadcast is scheduled to air on NBCSN at 2:30 p.m. PDT, with viewing on Facebook and on YouTube beginning at 2 p.m. PDT.

Stefanidi, representing Greece and Team Europe, competed in the women’s pole vault at the Mt. SAC Relays during her time at Stanford in 2010 and 2012, along with as a professional athlete from 2013-15, before the event moved to Cerritos College in 2016 and relocated to El Camino College from 2017-19.

She will be the first athlete to compete in any event in the new venue, vaulting against U.S. champion Sandi Morris in Florida and Swedish record holder Angelica Bengtsson in Karlstad.

“I’m very curious to see what it will feel like to be at Mt. SAC with an empty stadium,” said Stefanidi, who won the elite pole vault at Mt. SAC in 2014-15.

“I’ve always said the one meet I miss the most from my college career is Mt. SAC, so I’m excited to be going back there for that. I know it will feel nothing like Mt. SAC, but I’m excited just to be in the stadium.”

Perhaps the most historically significant athlete competing Thursday at Hilmer Lodge Stadium will be Felix, not just because of her status as the most decorated female Olympic and World Championship track and field medalist, but also because of her 18 consecutive years participating at the Mt. SAC Relays beginning as a high school athlete at California private school L.A. Baptist High in 2001.

“Ever since I started running track in high school, I’ve competed at the Mt. SAC Relays. It’s a very special place for me and I’m so excited to go back,” Felix said. “I’ve only seen photos of the stadium, so it will be really special to walk out there and get to touch the surface and to compete there for the first time.”

Felix, representing Team North America, will have the honor of participating in the first race on the new Hilmer Lodge Stadium track, a 150-meter sprint against Bahamian star Shaunae Miller-Uibo of Team World in Florida and Swiss talent Mujinga Kambundji of Team Europe in Zurich.

“Having Allyson Felix be the first runner to race on the new Hilmer Lodge track and be our first-ever competitor at the Hilmer Lodge Stadium is very meaningful to all of us here associated with the Mt. SAC Relays,” said Doug Todd, the Mt. SAC Director of Athletics Special Events.

“One of the most memorable experiences that I’ve had at the Mt. SAC Relays was when Felix, as only a high school senior, won the women’s invitational 200 way back in 2003. It was such an amazing beginning to an amazing career and having that happen at Mt. SAC cements her as one of our all-time favorites.

“But in addition to that race, she has been such a loyal participant at our event year after year and is always a crowd favorite. We love her and think it’s so fitting that she would grace us with her presence one more time on this very special occasion celebrated under very unusual COVID-19 circumstances.”

Felix, at age 17, ran a wind-legal 22.51 seconds to prevail against a field of professional and college athletes in the 200, setting national high school and American U-20 records in the process.

“That, to me, might be the greatest memory I have (at the Mt. SAC Relays) of that race, that Sunday when she did that,” said Tim O’Rourke, the Mt. SAC Relays high school division director.

“She came off that turn, and people said, ‘Hey, there’s a high school kid in the race.’ And then they said, ‘Oh my gosh, the high school kid is winning the race.’ That was her stepping up to the platform and saying, ‘Here I am.’”

Felix lowered that mark to 22.11 less than a month later competing against another group of professional athletes at the Banamex Grand Prix in Mexico City, the fastest time in the world in 2003.

Felix has competed in several sprint and relay events during her 18-year streak at Mt. SAC, which was interrupted last season when she took time off from training and competition following the birth of her first daughter Camryn in November 2018.

Felix has never run a 150-meter sprint at Mt. SAC, with her personal bests of 16.28 in a race with a curve coming en route to a 200-meter effort of 21.81 when she captured the gold medal at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan. Her fastest 150 time on a straightaway is 16.36 produced at the Manchester City Games in Great Britain in 2013.

Miller-Uibo, the world outdoor leader this year at 22.61 in the 200 meters and 50.52 in the 400 meters, ran the fastest women’s 150 race in history on a straightaway, clocking 16.23 in 2018 in Boston.

Moline, a late replacement for 400-meter hurdles world record holder and reigning Olympic and World champion Dalilah Muhammad, will represent Team North America in the 300 hurdles.

“I feel so honored to be one of the first to race in this beautiful stadium,” Moline said. “There may not be competitors in the lanes next to me and fans in the stands, but it all really just comes down to why I do this, and that has everything to do with the love for the sport.”

Zuzana Hejnova of the Czech Republic, who boasts the fastest women’s 300 hurdles time in history at 38.16 from 2013, will compete for Team World in the Netherlands, with Swiss standout Lea Sprunger racing for Team Europe in Zurich.

Moline, who competed for Arizona at the Mt. SAC Relays from 2011-13 – achieving four total victories – and again as an elite professional in 2018, hasn’t raced since the 2019 USATF Indoor Championships in New York after being sidelined with injuries. The 2012 Olympian hasn’t participated in any hurdling event since August 2018 when she competed in the 400 hurdles at the actual Weltklasse Zurich Diamond League meeting in Switzerland.

“I’m feeling so many emotions putting on a kit again after over a year and a half of not racing. I feel nervous to be racing again but above all I feel grateful. I’ve been putting in so much work behind the scenes and I am just so excited to showcase it all,” Moline said. “When I was injured, I remember praying for the day that I would be able to spike back up and race again and that day has come. I made a promise to myself to never take these opportunities for granted again and that’s something I plan on staying true to.”

Her last 300 hurdles race was in 2008 at the Arizona Meet of Champions during her senior year at Thunderbird High. Moline ran a personal-best 43.15 in the 300 hurdles to capture the Arizona 4A state title earlier that season.

“It should be fun to open that page of the yearbook,” said Moline, who is attempting to become only the fourth American female athlete in history to run under 40 seconds in the 300 hurdles.

Craddock has only competed once in his career at the Mt. SAC Relays, but made it a memorable appearance in 2014, winning the men’s triple jump with a wind-aided effort of 56-7.50 (17.26m).

Craddock will be representing Team North America, with fellow American and two-time Olympic gold medalist Christian Taylor competing for Team World in Florida, and Portugal’s Pedro Pablo Pichardo representing Team Europe in Lisbon.

In addition to Craddock, Felix and Moline, additional members of Team North America include Sam Kendricks in the men’s pole vault, Morris in the women’s pole vault, Noah Lyles in the men’s 200 meters and Canada’s Andre De Grasse in the men’s 100-yard dash, all competing in Florida.

There will also be a Team North America women’s 3x100 relay racing at Mt. SAC, including Felix, along with Tianna Bartoletta and Candace Hill.