DES MOINES, Iowa — Ninety-seven Drake Relays alumni, including four former Drake Relays champs who are current world leaders in their respective events in 2022, will compete in the World Track and Field Championships which will start Friday (July 15) running through July 24 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
 
There are 41 former Drake Relays champs who will be competing in the World Championships including 25 representing Team USA (12 men, 13 women) along with 16 international athletes (8 men, 8 women).
 
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Ryan Crouser, the world record holder in the men's shot put, tops the list of Drake Relays alumni on Team USA who are top contenders to win world titles. Crouser, a three-time Drake Relays defending champ, owns the top throw in the world at 75 feet 10 ¼ inches. Crouser has recorded seven of the 10 best throws of all-time—and all of them have come in the past 14 months.
 
Keni Harrison, a four-time Drake Relays champ, is the world record holder in the women's 100 hurdles and current world leader in 2022 with a 12.34 clocking. Five-time Drake Relays champ Sandi Morris  is the world leader in the women's pole vault at 15-9 3/4
 
Devon Allen, a 2018 Drake Relays champ, has clocked a world leading time of 12.84 in the men's 110 hurdles. Two-time Drake Relays champ Daniel Roberts, ranks No. 3 in the world in the men's 110 hurdles at 13.03 en route to winning the USA Championships June 26.
 
The list of Drake Relays champions from the international field is headlined by reigning two-time defending Drake Relays champ Aliison dos Santos  from Brazil who is the current world leader in the men's 400 hurdles  at 46.80 seconds.  dos Santos, who captured the silver medal in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, is undefeated in the 400 hurdles winning all five races this season with his streak beginning at the Drake Relays April 30.
 
Other Drake Relays international alumni include Puerto Rico's Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, reigning Olympic gold medalist in women's 100 hurdles; 2016 Olympic gold medalist Katerina Stefanidi  from Greece, women's pole vault and Nigeria's Else Brume, who was bronze medalist in women's long jump at 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
 
The contingent of Drake Relays participants includes 39 athletes on Team USA along with 58 international athletes, representing 24 other nations solidifying the Relays reputation as a global event. Those athletes will compete in 21 events in Eugene. 


Crouser and dos Santos are two of 12 athletes competing in the World Championships who won Drake Relays titles this past April 29-30. 
 
2016 Olympic gold medalist Dalilah Muhammad, the outstanding women's performer of the 2022 Drake Relays, will be a top contender in the women's 400 hurdles. Chris Nilsen, two-time defending Drake Relays men's pole vault champ, will challenge for the pole vault title after earning a silver medal in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
 
Long sprinter Randolph Ross, the outstanding men's performer of the 2022 Drake Relays, ranks No. 4 in the world in the men's 400 this season at 44.13. Ross posted the fastest time in the world in 2021 in 43.85 and earned a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics running on the Team USA 4x400 relay.
 
2022 Drake Relays champ Vashti Cunningham  looks to improve on a bronze medalist finish in the 2019 World Championships.
 
Five collegians who won 2022 Drake Relays titles, will represent their respective countries in the World Championships; Kentucky sprinter Dwight St. Hillaire, Trinidad & Tobago, men's 400; Michigan's John Zeller, Great Britain, men's 110 hurdles; North Carolina A&T's Grace Nwokocha, from Nigeria, who won the Drake Relays women's university-college 100;   Josefine Eriksen, Norway, who ran winning leg on the women's university 4x400 relay; and Nebraska's Axelina Johansson,  Sweden, who captured the Drake Relays women's university-college shot put title.
 
Four-time Mexican national champion Laura Galvan, who won the women's invitational 1500 at the 2022 Drake Relays, will run in both the 1500 and 5000.
 
NCAA record-holder Abby Steiner, who led Kentucky to a pair of relay titles at the 2019 Drake Relays, is the one to watch in the women's 200. Coming off a brilliant senior season at Kentucky, Steiner has run three of the four fastest times in the world this year
 
There are seven athletes with ties to the state of Iowa also scheduled to compete, including five who will represent Team USA.
 
Urbandale, Iowa, native Karissa Schweizer, the outstanding women's performer of the 2018 Drake Relays, will run in both the women's 5,000 and 10,000. She ran both races in the 2021 Olympics. 
 
Other Team USA athletes competing at the World Championships who have Iowa ties include 2021 Olympic silver medalist Kenny Bednarek (Indian Hills Community College), men's 200;  two-time Olympian Hillary Bor, Iowa State, men's 3000 steeplechase;; former Iowa NCAA champ Laulauga Tausaga-Colins, women's discus andBrianWilliams (Iowa Central), men's discus.
 
Iowa Central has two other athletes who will represent their respective countries; Adva Cohen (Iowa Central), Israel, women's 3000 steeplechase and Karayme Bartley (Iowa Central), Jamaica, men's 4x400 relay.
 
Allyson Felix, who made her Drake Relays debut in 2006, will be making her 10^thand final appearance at the World Championships Friday when she will compete in the mixed 4x400 relay. If the team finishes in the top three, as expected, it would give her a total of 30 Olympic and World Championships medals – a staggering sum, illustrating both her dominance, versatility and longevity over nearly two decades in the sport. Felix, 36, has announced that she will retire at the end of the year. She last ran at Drake Stadium during the 2019 USA Outdoor Championships.
 
NBC Sports will broadcast 43 hours from Eugene with live afternoon and primetime shows both weekends. Additional television coverage will air on USA Network and CNBC. (See links below)
 
USA Network will have live coverage of Friday's opening session from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. central time.