DES MOINES, Iowa – Thursday night at the Drake Relays will again feature fierce competition on the throwing fields with the World Athletics Continental Tour (WACT) hammer throw and javelin action.
 
"The Thursday Night Throws events during the Drake Relays are some of the most explosive athletic performances of the entire week," Franklin P. Johnson Director of the Drake Relays Blake Boldon said. "This year's elite hammer throw and javelin lineups are sure to conjure up some electric efforts in the throwing fields, making for an energetic kick-off to the action inside Drake Stadium grounds."
 
Both men's and women's hammer throw fields are littered with Olympians and athletes with Relays success.
 
A 2021 Olympian, Brooke Andersen returns as the defending Drake Relays champion and stands as one of the premier throwers in the world. Her personal best of 80.17m/263-0 ranks second all-time in U.S. history and fourth in world history. Andersen is one of only four women to ever surpass 80 meters.
 
Last year's third place finisher, Annette Echikunwoke holds a personal best of 75.48m/247-7, good enough for seventh all-time among Americans. She captured the title at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials and went on to earn an Olympic silver medal. Erin Reese is the third American Olympian in the field after finishing fifth here last year. Reese represented the United States at the 2024 Olympic Games, after placing third at the Olympic Trials in the hammer throw. She also won the 2024 U.S. Indoor weight throw title.
 
Other international Olympians in the women's hammer throw field include Canadian Jillian Weir and Greece native Stamatia Scarvelis. Weir ranks third all-time in Canadian history and is a four-time World Championships qualifier, highlighted by a fifth-place finish in 2022, before earning bronze at the 2025 NACAC Championships. Scarvelis, an 8-time Greek national champion, is also a three-time World Championships qualifier and represented Greece on the biggest stage in both 2021 and 2024.
 
The women's hammer roster is rounded out by Rachel Richeson, the 2025 Drake Relays runner-up and third-best American of all time, Jamaican national record holder Nayoka Clunis, 2-time former Drake Relays University/College division champion Annie Nabwe of Liberia, 2025 World Championships qualifier Anna Purchase of Great Britain, and former NCAA All-American Kali Terza.
 
Drake Relays mainstay Rudy Winkler headlines the men's hammer contest as one of four Olympians in the lineup. Winkler, a previous Relays title winner, is one of the most accomplished hammer throwers in U.S. history with the American record of 83.16m/272-10. He has qualified for a trio of Olympic Games with two Olympic final appearances under his belt.
 
Other Olympians in the men's hammer throw field include Canada's Rowan Hamilton, a finalist at the 2024 Games in Paris, American Daniel Haugh, a 6-time U.S. national champion, and Christos Frantzeskakis of Greece, a 2-time Olympian and 5-time Greek national champion.
 
Kostas Zaltos, another representative of Greece and 2-time World Championships competitor, Trey Knight, the 2025 U.S. Championships runner-up, Tanner Berg, the 2025 fourth place finisher, Tyler Williams, a 2024 Olympic Trials participant, Kade McCall, the 2026 Big 12 Conference champion, and Ryan Johnson, a former Drake Relays champion at the University of Iowa, complete the hammer throw field.
 
Another returning Drake Relays champion, Rhema Otabor, comes back to Des Moines to defend her crown in the women's javelin. Native Bahamian Otabor holds her country's national record of 64.19m/210-7. Otabor will be challenged by a slew of opponents including sOlympian Ariana Ince, who competed for the U.S. at the 2021 Games in Tokyo after winning bronze at the 2019 Pan American Games. Last year's WACT women's javelin runner-up Madison Wiltrout also returns to Des Moines. Wiltrout qualified for the 2025 World Championships after finishing third at the 2024 Olympic Trials.
 
New Zealander Tori Moorby, a 2024 Olympian, brings three World Championship qualifications and nine national titles to America's Athletic Classic. Other global women's javelin contenders include Germany's Jana Lowka, Great Britain's Elizabeth Korczak, and South Africa's McKyla Van Der Westhuizen, who placed third at last year's Relays.
 
Maddie Harris, 2025 Big Ten champion, and Sara Blake, U.S. Championships third place finisher, add depth to the women's javelin field.
 
Curtis Thompson enters the 2026 Relays with the most decorated resume among the WACT men's javelin participants. Thompson represented the United States at the 2021 and 2024 Olympic Games. He earned a bronze medal at the 2025 World Championships after finishing as a finalist in 2022 and also captured the 2023 Pan American Games title. A 5-time U.S. national champion, Thompson placed second at the 2025 Drake Relays and ranks No. 3 all-time in U.S. history with a personal best of 87.76m/287-11.
 
Thompson will be challenged by defending Drake Relays champion Keyshawn Strachan, who represents the Bahamas and qualified for the 2025 World Championships.
 
Scandinavian athletes Sindri Hrafn Gudmundsson of Iceland and Arthur Petersen of Denmark add international flare to the men's javelin field. Gudmundsson is a 4-time national champion and ranks third all-time in Icelandic history with a personal best of 82.55m/270-10. Petersen is the second-best Danish thrower in the country's history and has won seven national titles.
 
Elvis Graham, the Jamaican javelin record holder and 6-time national champion will be part of the Thursday Night Throws action.
 
The men's javelin lineup is concluded by a trio of domestic dynamos in Dash Sirmon, a junior at the University of Nebraska with runner-up finishes at both the U.S. Championships and NACAC Championships, Marc Minichello, 2025 World Championships qualifier, and Mike Stein, a former Spirit Lake High School and University of Iowa standout who place sixth at the Relays last year.
 
Tickets to the 2026 Drake Relays are available for purchase here.

Drake Relays Women's Hammer Throw Field
Brooke Andersen
Nayoka Clunis
Annette Echikunwoke
Annie Nabwe
Anna Purchase
Erin Reese
Rachel Richeson
Stamatia Scarvelis
Kali Terza
Jillian Weir

Drake Relays Men's Hammer Throw Field
Tanner Berg
Christos Frantzeskakis
Daniel Haugh
Rowan Hamilton
Ryan Johnson
Trey Knight
Kade McCall
Tyler Williams
Rudy Winkler
Kostas Zaltos

Drake Relays Women's Javelin Field
Sarah Blake
Maddie Harris
Ariana Ince
Lizzy Korczak
Jana Lowka
Tori Moorby
Rhema Otabor
McKyla Van Der Westhuizen
Madison Wiltrout  

Drake Relays Men's Javelin Field
Elvis Graham
Sindri Hrafn Gudmundsson
Marc Minichello
Arthur Petersen
Dash Sirmon
Mike Stein
Keyshawn Strachan
Curtis Thompson