Folders |
Elite Fields Set for USATF 1 Mile Road Race, Drake Relays 1500m & Women's 800mPublished by
Drake Relays Drake Athletic Communications Elite Fields Set for USATF 1 Mile Road Race, 1500m, and Women's 800mCollection of world-class athletes have their sights set on world records and Olympic qualificationDES MOINES, Iowa – The USA Track & Field 1 Mile Road Championships, hosted as part of the Grand Blue Mile presented by Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, will again bring some the nation's top milers to Downtown Des Moines and for the first time ever they will finish on "World Record Way" on Tuesday, April 23. "The USATF 1 Mile Road Championships have become a staple of the Drake Relays," Franklin P. Johnson Director of the Drake Relays Blake Boldon said. "This event has built a reputation among the discipline's most competitive runners as a premier destination, and this year's race will continue that tradition. The fact that so many of the 1 Mile road racers are sticking around to compete on the Blue Oval is an added bonus that demonstrates the significance of our events in an Olympic year." The women's championship event is set for 7:15 p.m. followed by the men's championship race at 7:30 p.m. The recreational and competitive Grand Blue Mile races are set to start at 6:00 p.m. leading up to the eventual professional contests. Spots are still available for runners and walkers of all abilities for those races at GrandBlueMile.com. Sam Prakel and Nikki Hiltz, last year's USATF 1 Mile Road Championship winners, were awarded the inaugural world records in the discipline after blazing through the downtown course. Those records were officially ratified in September 2023. That same month, the City of Des Moines announced an honorary name change to the stretch of 13th Street between Grand Avenue and Locust Street as "World Record Way". This year's contestants will aim to prove that moniker true and chase down another unprecedented one-mile road race mark. The men's field in the USATF 1 Mile Road Championship features another excellent crop of contenders. Vince Ciattei leads a quintet of returners from last year's event. He finished fourth a year ago and won the road race in 2022. Ciattei is in top form and ran his personal best mile last month with a 3:50.56 mark. He will come to Des Moines with a chance for another world record as the current record time Is 3:56.13. Two other returners will also be hunting the world record with previous bests under that mark. Kasey Knevelbaard, the fifth-place finish at the 2023 edition, has previously posted an indoor mile best of 3:55.92. John Reniewicki adds to the field with an excellent indoor mile best of his own at 3:51.72. Other returners include outstanding road racer Nick Randazzo, Drake Relays veteran and American 1,000m record holder Shane Streich, and 2021 Road Mile place winner Abe Alvarado. Ben Veatch, a seven-time NCAA qualifier, and Alec Basten, another Relays veteran and U.S. Championship finalist, also headline the 1 Mile Road Race. The men's field is rounded out by a handful of wildcard competitors in NAIA national champion Tim Thacker, Tanner Maier in his road mile debut, plus Macauley Franks, an NCAA Division II All-American. Other challengers include Jake Gillum, last year's sixth-place winner, and two more first-time runners in Caleb Webb and Sair Salgado. Mikey Brannigan, a Paralympic gold medalist, fills out the final spot in a unique position as the first paralympic ambulatory athlete to break four minutes in the mile. The women's USATF 1 Mile Road Championship race will feature a diverse collection of veteran runners alongside racers making their road track debuts. Nearly half of the field will be competing in their first-ever road mile. The more seasoned portion of the women's road race is highlighted by three-time USATF Road Mile champion Emily Lipari. All three of Lipari's road wins came in Des Moines between 2018-22. Four other returners join Lipari including 2022 fourth-place finisher and current USATF Indoor champion Allie Wilson, 2023 place winners Micaela DeGenero and Alex Teubel, and Rachel (Schneider) Smith, a past USATF 1 Mile champion in Des Moines. That field is completed by collegiate stars-turned pros Maria Seykora, Emi Trost, and Anna Camp Bennett. Several of the men's road mile participants will also hit the Blue Oval and compete in the elite 1,500m run. Reniewicki, Ciattei, Knevelbard, Brannigan, Franks, and Randazzo will all double up at the Drake Relays. That group will be joined by a trio of athletes from the previously announced Indian Federation in Avinash Sable, Ajay Kumar Saroj, and P.R. Rahul. The men's 1,500m field is filled by three other successful runners vying for a Relays title. Kenyan miler Justin Kipkoech will be running only his second race on American soil after posting a 3:40 mark last month. Ryan Adams and Brett Meyer, both former Drake Relays champions, will round out the field. Like the men's section, the women's elite 1,500m will be comprised of several repeat runners taking part in the 1 Mile Road Championship earlier in the week. Teubel, Tanaka, McArthur, Bennett, Wilson, DeGenero, Hurley, and Lipari will make their way to Drake Stadium for their second event of the 2024 Relays festivities. The women's 1,500m field will be supplemented by another handful of notable names including Berenice Fulchiron, a French national champion in the 1,500m and 3,000m. Parul Chaudhary of India, Vera Hoffman of Luxembourg, and Alma Cortes of Mexico, three more national title winners in their home countries, will also be a part of the elite race. Kate Current, a Canadian standout, and Stephanie Brown-Brokaw, a former NCAA national champion, add to the field. Two late additions to the women's 1,500m represent the University of Oregon, one of the country's premier track and field programs. Sophomores Klaudia Kazimierska, originally from Poland, and Silan Ayyildiz, originally from Turkey, will be part of the elite field. Kazimierska finished seventh at the 2024 NCAA Championships in the mile while Ayyildiz, a three-time Turkey Senior National Champion, was named an All-American in 2024 and owns the Turkish national mile record. The women's elite 800m race features another solid field of runners including the Drake Relays defending champion, Susan Ejore. The Kenyan took gold at last year's Relays and holds a personal record of 1:59.51. Chrisann Gordon-Powell and Kaela Edwards also own personal bests under the two-minute mark. Edwards took bronze at the 2023 U.S. Indoor and Outdoor Championships and owns a personal best time of 1:59.68. Gordon-Powell, a member of the esteemed Jamaican track and field team, qualified for the 2022 World Championships in the 800 and 400 and was a PanAm Games finalist in the latter. 2022 Brazilian national champion and 2023 World Championship qualifier Jaqueline Beatriz Weber highlights the remainder of the field. She was fourth in the 800 at the 2023 South America Championships and PanAm Games. Other 800m participants include a host of former collegiate medalists in Julia Nielsen, a four-time Missouri Valley Conference champion at Bradley, Gina McNamara, owner of three different national records in her native Malta, former Big Ten champions Rachel Gearing and Aurora Rynda, Sun Belt Conference standout Gemma Finch, and 2023 Drake Relays bronze medalist Mallory Lindaman of Iowa. The women's 800m run will kick off the slate of elite events on Saturday of the Drake Relays. That race is set to start at 2:05 p.m. with the men's elite 1,500m run to immediately follow. The women's 1,500m will get going just prior to 3:30 p.m. Single session tickets are now available, and the Saturday session is heading toward a 57th-consecutive sellout. 2024 Drake Relays tickets are available here. Men's USATF 1 Mile Road Championship Abe Alvarado
Women's USATF 1 Mile Road Championship Anna Camp Bennett*
Men's Elite 1,500m Ryan Adams
Women's Elite 1,500m Silan Ayyildiz
Women's Elite 800m Kaela Edwards
More news |
