Eugene Diamond League: World records on the line at Prefontaine Classic 

This week, the Diamond League moves to Eugene for the annual Prefontaine Classic.

Many of the world's best athletes will be competing on 27 and 28 May, including women's double 100m and 200m Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, pole vault world record holder Mondo Duplantis and two-time Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo.

With so many stars on display, it's no surprise that whispers of world records have been circulating around the athletics community.

But three athletes have gone even further, stating their intentions to break world records in Oregon this weekend.

Find out who they are and what their credentials are below.

Joshua Cheptegai, Uganda, men's 5000m

When Joshua Cheptegei announces he's aiming for a world record, the world listens. The current owner of the best-ever times in the 5000 and 10,000m, also holds the 15km road race world record.

His two track world records were both set in 2020, with the 5000m set at the Diamond League in Monaco and the 10,000m record later the same year in Valencia.

In Eugene, Cheptegei will be aiming for the shorter of the two distances, and to do so he will need to beat his own time of 12:35.36. Just to put it into some perspective, when he set that mark in 2020 he beat a 16-year-old record belonging to the great Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia by over two entire seconds.

At last year's Olympics, Cheptegai showed his dominance over the 5000m with a gold-medal-winning run in Tokyo. He is also the reigning Commonwealth Games 5000m champion, as well as the reigning 10,000m world champion.

Letesenbet Gidey, Ethiopia, women's 5000m

Turning to the women's 5000m, another athlete who has stated she is aiming to break the record this weekend is Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia.

And much like Cheptegei, Gidey has the credentials to back up her aspirations.

Holder of the 5000m and 10,000m world records, Gidey once again achieved the shorter of the two in 2020. In an October meet in Valencia, she smashed a 12-year-old record previously owned by Tirunesh Dibaba - and she did it in style.

Shaving 4.5 seconds off of the previous world best, Gidey came home in 14:06.65 to set a new target for the best 5000m runners across the world.

“I’m happy, I’m happy,” Gidey said after the race. “This is a long time of the dream, I have been dreaming about this for six years.”

Now, less than two years later she has her eyes on lowering that mark once again in Eugene.

Gidey's Tokyo 2020 experience was somewhat overshadowed by her Dutch rival Sifan Hassan who stormed to victory in the 10,000m, with Gidey having to settle for bronze.

She'll be looking to bounce back in 2022 with world records and a World Athletics Championship in her sights.

Francine Niyonsaba, women's two mile

It was only last year at the Prefontaine Classic that Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba set the second-fastest two-mile time ever, in a race where she beat none other than Ethiopia's 5000 and 10,000m world record holder Gidey to the line by over six seconds.

Astonishingly, it was Niyonsaba's first-ever two-mile race of her career.

The 29-year-old Rio 2016 Olympic 800m silver medallist is plotting even bigger things this year, as she takes aim at the 8:58.58 set by Ethiopia's two-time Olympic 5000m gold medallist Meseret Defar in 2007. Her own time last year in Eugene - where she also used to live - was 9:00.75, less than two seconds off Defar's mark.

Can she do it in Eugene? One person who might stand in her way is Olympic 5000 and 10,000m champion Hassan who lines up against her this Friday in the non-Olympic race.

One thing's for sure, it's going to be exciting.