Defending Champions and Six Olympians Highlight the Drake Relays Presented by Hy-Vee Hurdles

The Drake Relays presented by Hy-Vee has cultivated a tradition of hosting the world’s top hurdlers and the 110th Drake Relays will be no different.

Blake Boldon, the Franklin P. Johnson Director of the Drake Relays, has announced a men’s 110-meter and 400-meter hurdles lineup that features six Olympians and the defending champions from both events.

Omar McLeod, who has been a regular of the Blue Oval dating back to his collegiate career at Arkansas, returns to Drake Stadium. The Jamaican national record holder in the 110-meter hurdles, McLeod was the 2016 Olympic gold medalist and owns the fifth-fastest time in the history of the world at 12.90. In 2016, he set the Drake Relays record at 13.08 in winning his first of two Relays titles in the event.

McLeod will be looking to add a third title to his resume and unseat reigning champion, Devon Allen. Allen owns USATF indoor and outdoor titles in the hurdles. Allen is coming off a USA Championship indoor title in the 60-meter hurdles where he edged out Aaron Mallett, who was a four-time All-American at Iowa.

The field also includes international Olympians such as Milan Ristic, Eddie Lovett and Johnathan Cabral.

The 400-meter hurdles field also includes the defending champion in Jeffrey Gibson, a 2016 Olympian who used his Relays win to catapult himself to a 2018 Commonwealth Games silver medal.

The 2017 Relays champion in the event, Michael Stigler, also returns to the Blue Oval as does Kenny Selmon. One of the young talents in the sport, Selmon raced to the USATF title in the event last summer at the USA Championships. A bevy of other hurdles who made their Drake Stadium debuts over the summer also return to the Blue Oval including C.J. Allen and Khallifah Rosser.

The men’s 110-meters hurdles are scheduled for Saturday, April 27, afternoon while the 400-meter hurdles will be under the lights at Drake Stadium April 26 evening.

Relays Week competitions begin Tuesday, April 23, with the Grand Blue Mile on the streets of downtown Des Moines. The heptathlon and decathlon get underway in Drake Stadium Wednesday, April 24, followed by the annual Capital Square Vault. Combined events conclude Thursday, April 25, at Drake Stadium followed by the annual Distance Carnival. Action continues all day Friday and Saturday at Drake Stadium.

All-session, multi-session and single-session tickets for all of the action are available via DrakeTix.com, 515-271-3647 or visiting the Drake Athletic Ticket Office.

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