DES MOINES, Iowa – The athlete fields for the 2025 Drake Relays World Athletics Continental Tour hurdling events have been announced. More star power is on its way to the Blue Oval as part of a tremendous slate of professional events at the 115th running of America's Athletic Classic.
 
"Hurdle events are always a high-profile race regardless of the meet," said Franklin P. Johnson Director of the Drake Relays Blake Boldon. "From our high school competitors to the Olympic champion, some of the best athletes run the hurdles, and that tradition continues at American's Athletic Classic in 2025. This year's hurdles lineup provides an exclamation point to what is the deepest collection of elite talent to compete in Des Moines since at least 2019."
 
Masai Russell headlines the hurdlers in 2025. Russell, the reigning women's 100m hurdles Olympic gold medalist, qualified for the Paris Games after running a personal best time of 12.25 at the Olympic Trials. Her mark there was good enough for second-best all-time in U.S. history. Russell has since won the US Indoor and Millrose Games championships in 2025. Russell boasts previous Relays experience as a 2022 runner-up in the 100m hurdles, the same year she won her first Drake Relays title in the 400m hurdles while competing for the University of Kentucky.
 
Another 2024 American Olympian, Denisha Cartwright will come back to Des Moines after winning her sixth Drake Relays championship flag last year. She finished the indoor season with the ninth-fastest 60m hurdles time in the world and reach the World Indoor Championships semifinals. Cartwright is the most decorated Division II athlete in NCAA history with 29 All-America honors and seven NCAA D-II gold medals.
 
Other American 100m hurdlers include Olympic Trials semifinalists Gabbi Cunningham and Rayniah Jones. Costa Rican national record holder and 2021 Tokyo Olympian Andrea Vargas, four-time Puerto Rican national champion Paola Vazquez, St. Lucian World Championship qualifier Aasia Laurencin, and 2024 Drake Relays runner-up Demisha Roswell make up the remainder of the womens' 100m hurdles lineup.
 
The men's 110m hurdles field is paced by a 13.07 personal record recorded by former University of Iowa standout Jamal Britt. The Hawkeye reached the 2021 Olympic Trials finals before winning the Drake Relays 110s in 2023. He will be joined by 2024 Olympic qualifier Craig Thorne of Canada, 2023 Relays third place winner Eric Edwards, Jr., 2024 Olympic Trials semifinalist Louis Rollins, back-to-back Indoor World Championships qualifier Cameron Murray, 2023 Pan American Games silver medalist De'Vion Wilson, NCAA All-American Lafranz Campbell, and two-time Cayman Islands national champion Rasheem Brown.
 
Defending Drake Relays champion Aldrich Bailey, Jr. will make another on the Blue Oval for the men's 400 hurdles. He will face a stiff challenge from the likes of fellow Americans Khallifah Rosser in his sixth straight Drake Relays, six-time Kenyan national champ and 2024 Olympic semifinalist Wiseman Mukhobe, and 2024 Olympic Trials fourth and fifth place winners Chris Robinson and James Smith II, respectively.
 
22-year-old Jamaican hurdler Assinie Wilson is set to hit the track in the 400 hurdles as one of the discipline's promising young stars. Pablo Ibanez, a four-time national champion representing El Salvador, and Juander Santos, a Pan American Games finalist from the Dominican Republic, will add some Latin American flare to Saturday's event.
 
A trio of 2024 Olympians sit atop the field in the women's 400 hurdles. Philippine national record holder Lauren Hoffman, four-time Puerto Rican national champion Grace Claxton, and Australin Olympic semifinalist Alanah Yukich all competed in Tokyo last summer. Ashley Spencer and Tia Adana Belle also bring previous Olympic experience as the former brought home the bronze from the 2016 Rio Games and latter qualified for both the 2016 and 2021 Olympics.
 
2024 Olympic Trials semifinalist Jessica Wright, three-time U.S. championship semifinalist Bianca Stubler, and 2024 NCAA third place finisher Chastity Pickett round out the women's 400m hurdles roster.
 
"This year's 800 will be another can't-miss race in the women's division," Boldon continued. "That field is packed with global contenders, collegiate stars, and standouts with strong ties to Des Moines and the Drake Relays. The meet record of 2:00.03 set a decade ago is in jeopardy next week."
 
The women's 800 features another competitive field including the return of last year's champion, Aurora Rynda. Rynda was a 2025 World Indoor Championships qualifier and nine-time Big Ten champion at Michigan. She will be running alongside a host of challengers looking to keep her off the podium.
 
Those challengers include a pair of runners also competing in the women's USATF 1 Mile Road Championships on Tuesday night, Anna Connor and Alex Teubel. Previous World Championship qualifiers Addy Townsend, and Kaela Edwards will all hit the Blue Oval for the women's 800. Gina McNamara, a four-time Maltese national record holder, Mallory Lindaman, a two-time Drake Relays top five finisher, Brenna Detra, the seventh-place finisher at the 2023 Pan American Games, and Gracie Morris, a 2025 U.S. Indoor sixth place finisher, are also in the field.
 
Klaudia Kazimierska, a current senior at the University of Oregon, punctuates the women's 800 lineup. Kazimierska won the national championship in her home nation of Poland last year and was a 1500-meter finalist at the Paris Olympics.
 
2025 Drake Relays tickets are available here.
 
 
Drake Relays Women's 100m Hurdles Field
Denisha Cartwright
Gabbi Cunningham
Rayniah Jones
Aasia Laurencin
Demisha Roswell
Masai Russell
Andrea Vargas
Paola Vazquez
 
Drake Relays Men's 110m Hurdles Field
Jamal Britt
Rasheem Brown
Lafranz Campbell
Eric Edwards, Jr.
Cameron Murray
Louis Rollins
Craig Thorne
De'Vion Wilson
 
Drake Relays Men's 400m Hurdles Field
Aldrich Bailey, Jr.
Pablo Ibanez
Wiseman Mukhobe
Chris Robinson
Khallifah Rosser
Juander Santos
James Smith II
Assinie Wilson
 
Drake Relays Women's 400m Hurdles Field
Tia Adana Belle
Grace Claxton
Lauren Hoffman
Chastity Pickett
Ashley Spencer
Bianca Stubler
Jessica Wright
Alanah Yukich
 
Drake Relays Women's 800m Field
Anna Connor
Brenna Detra
Kaela Edwards
Klaudia Kazimierska
Mallory Lindaman
Gina McNamara
Gracie Morris
Aurora Rynda
Addy Townsend
Alex Teubel