Ajee Wilson winning the 800m final at the 2014 USATF Outdoor Championships in June. 

The 2015 Drake Relays will be highlighted by some of the world’s best track and field talent that includes 11 Olympic medalists and 24 of the top ranked individuals in the world from the pole vault to the 800m. 

 

Inside Drake Stadium April 23-25 will be a field meant to preview this summer’s World Championships in Beijing, notably eight of the top ten American female 800m runners including world No. 2 Ajee Wilson and No. 3 Brenda Martinez. The rest of the field includes World Indoor gold medalist Chanelle Price, five-time national champion Alysia Montano, two-time national champion Heather Kampf, three-time 1500m national champion Morgan Uceny, Molly Beckwith Ludlow, Maggie Vessey, Latavia Thomas, and Phoebe Wright. 

The Drake Relays Presented By Hy-Vee will take place during the week of April 19-26, starting with a pole vault competition on April 22 in the middle of downtown Des Moines where Olympic gold medalist and men’s world record-holder Renaud Lavillenie and women’s world record-holder and No. 3 in the world Jenn Suhr will take on a stacked field of talent in the streets of the city. 

 

The men’s 400m rivalry between 2008 Olympic gold medalist Lashawn Merritt and Grenada’s 2012 Olympic champion Kirani James will also continue this year as the two sprinters will face off once again in a field that includes seven of the top 10 ranked athletes in the world. 

 

The men’s 110m hurdles also promises a star-studded cast led by world record-holder Aries Merritt, World No. 1 Pascal Martinot-Lagarde of France, and seven of the top 10 hurdlers in the world. Many of those hurdlers, including two teams of Americans, David Oliver, Aries Merritt, Ashton Eaton, Alec Harris, Ronnie Ash, Ryan Wilson, Spencer Adams, and Jason Richardson will also participate in the shuttle hurdle relay. 

 

Five of the top 10 American high jumpers will throw down at Hy-Vee Night in an encore of last year’s competition that saw Derek Drouin set a Canadian and Drake Relays record by clearing 2.40m. This year, the field includes Drouin, Olympic silver medalist Erik Kynard, World indoor bronze medalist Dusty Jonas, 2011 World Champion Jesse Williams, and many other notable jumpers. 

 

Several top college teams have also committed to send their top talent, including Arizona, Arizona State, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Arkansas, Baylor, Nebraska, Georgia, Kansas, Illinois, Purdue, Ohio State and Wisconsin. 

Drake Relays Official Release