TOKYO, Japan – The 2025 World Athletics Championships recently wrapped competition in Tokyo with over 60 Drake Relays alumni competing across multiple disciplines. The global impact of America's Athletic Classic was showcased including 16 total medals and six golds. Team USA also included marathoner Reed Fischer, a Drake University alumnus.
Five-time Drake Relays champion and 2024 Relays Hall of Fame inductee Ryan Crouser claimed his third consecutive world title in the shot put. One of last year's Relays stars, long jump champion and record holder Tara Davis-Woodhall, backed up her previous Olympic gold with another top spot in Tokyo.
Katie Moon, the 2021 Drake Relays runner-up, won her third straight world championship in the pole vault, edging out silver medalist and fellow alumna Sandi Morris, a four-time Relays title winner.
Former Drake Relays standouts also chipped in on a pair of gold medal-winning relay teams as Kenny Bednarek and Courtney Lindsey, two junior college stars, powered Team USA to a 4x100 gold. Lee Eppie of Botswana, who earned a Relays flag in 2021, led his home nation to a championship in the 4x400.
Bednarek also earned a silver medal in the men's 200. American thrower Chase Jackson, a Relays champion in 2023, earned silver in the women's shot put while fellow Team USA representative Vernon Norwood also helped his squad to a silver in the men's 4x400 relay.
Canadian legend and 2018 Drake Relays alum Andre De Grasse anchored his national relay team to a second-place finish in the 4x100. Hurdlers Alison dos Santos of Brazil, the Drake Relays record holder, and Tobi Amusan of Nigeria, a former Relays runner-up, took silver in the men's 400 hurdles and women's 100 hurdles, respectively.
Curtis Thompson ended an 18-year American medal drought with a bronze in the javelin. Thompson took silver in the same event at the 115th Drake Relays in April. Fellow American Taliyah Brooks tied for the bronze in the heptathlon. She equaled Great Britain's Katarina Johnson-Thompson with 6,581 points. 2017 Drake Relays collegiate champion Alex Rose also made history as the first Samoan to medal in track and field with a bronze in the men's discus.
Elsewhere, native Iowan and 2025 Drake Relays women's mile runner-up Shelby Houlihan finished fourth in the women's 5k for her best global finish. Nico Young placed sixth in the men's 5k. In the women's 200m dash, Americans Anavia Battle and Brittany Brown both advanced to the final, eventually finishing fourth and sixth, respectively. 400 hurdles alumnae Dalilah Muhammad, Anna Cockrell, Gianna Woodruff, and Shiann Salmon all reached the women's final with Cockrell, the 2023 Drake Relays champion, finishing fourth.
While not a medalist, Reed Fischer ran in the men's marathon at the World Athletics Championships. Fischer, a former Bulldog student-athlete, last represented Team USA at the 2023 World Road Running Championships and posted a season beat time of 2:15.17 to take 28th place in Tokyo.
 

2025 WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS MEDALISTS Drake Relays Alumni
MEDAL	COUNT	MEDALISTS
Gold	6	Kenny Bednarek (men's 4x100 relay)  Ryan Crouser (men's shot put)  Tara Davis-Woodhall (women's long jump)  Lee Eppie (men's 4x400 relay)  Courtney Lindsey (men's 4x100 relay)  Katie Moon (women's pole vault)
Silver	7	Tobi Amusan (women's 100 hurdles)  Kenny Bednarek (men's 200)  Andre De Grasse (men's 4x100)  Alison dos Santos (men's 400 hurdles)  Chase Jackson (women's shot put)  Sandi Morris (women's pole vault)  Vernon Norwood (men's 4x400)
Bronze	3	Taliyah Brooks (heptathlon)  Alex Rose (men's discus)  Curtis Thompson (men's javelin)