EUGENE, Ore. - From Saturday through the end of July, you can find a piece of Eugene's running history right in the heart of the 5th Street Public Market; a new Steve Prefontaine statue has been unveiled, just in time for the World Athletics Championships.

"So it's about a five year [long] project," said Mike Leckie, the sculptor. "Prefontaine has been my hero for a long time."

His connection to the late track and field superstar inspired the cast-iron sculpture.

He said, "The rest of the world sees him as a major hero, and I kind of wanted Eugene to get it."

The artist said he has already taken notice of the local community's reaction ahead of Oregon22.

"I saw many people taking their photograph with him, and the manager of the 5th Street Public Market said 'That had been going on all day,'" Leckie said. "It can't get any better."

If Prefontaine were alive today, the sculptor said the two of them would be the same age. He says he was a student at Oregon State University when Prefontaine was at University of Oregon.

"He was an independent, small town Oregon boy that meant a lot to the group of people I was with when I was at Oregon State," he said. "We considered him one of us."

The artist said he hopes his piece will inspire the next generation to embody Prefontaine's legacy, saying, "We want Pre's attitude, his independence, and his ferocious drive to succeed. We want to see if that will rub off on the grade school kids and the high school kids of Oregon."

Leckie said he is already working on expanding the project with sculptures of other athletes to create what he calls "The Avenue of Champions" with an end goal of moving those pieces in front of Hayward Field.