LOS ANGELES — Saturday's LA Track Festival at UCLA's Drake Stadium brings world-class athletics to the West Coast with a menu of tantalizing matchups on the oval featuring a cornucopia of Olympics and World Championships medalists and many of the top American athletes in their events. The meet offers an early look at stars who will challenge for national titles and global bragging rights in 2026 and is a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver competition that is the eighth stop on the 2026 USATF Tour.
Two laps of sheer excitement are on tap in the men's 800, surely the marquee event with defending USATF champion and former American record holder Donavan Brazier taking on current national record holder Bryce Hoppel. Throw in two of Britain's greatest middle distance athletes in the shape of 2022 and 2023 world 1500-meter champions Jake Wightman and Josh Kerr, as well as 2023 world road mile gold medalist Hobbs Kessler, and you have a true championship-quality contest. Brazier, the 2019 world champion, set his PB of 1:42.16 to win a classic USATF final last year in Eugene to cap a long comeback trail after a series of injury setbacks.
Hoppel clocked the AR of 1:41.67 when he finished an agonizing fourth at the 2024 Olympic in Paris after winning the World Indoor title earlier that year. Still only 23, Kessler has achieved great success across an array of distances and was the runner-up at the 2024 Olympic Trials. He has a PB of 1:43.64 and has also dipped under 3:30 in the 1500. Not to be overlooked is Brandon Miller, fresh off a 1:44.00 at the Shaoxing Diamond League meet and the fifth-place finisher at the 2025 World Indoor Championships.
Olympic silver medalist Kenneth Rooks added another U.S. title in the 3000 steeplechase last year and is the second fastest American ever with a PB of 8:06.41 from that Paris race in 2024. He will need to be at the top of his game to handle Tunisia's Ahmed Jaziri, the 2022 NCAA champion who was fifth in that Olympic final with a PB of 8:08.02. The two men who finished behind Rooks at the 2025 USATF Championships are also here, with Daniel Michalski coming off a ninth-place finish at the World Championships in Tokyo. Michalski notched a PB of 8:14.07 in less than optimal conditions to take gold at last year's NACAC Championships in the Bahamas. Benard Keter was 11th at the Tokyo Olympic Games and has a best of 8:16.11.
Three of the top 10 all-time U.S. performers in the women's 3000 steeplechase will be in attendance, led by former national record holder Emma Coburn. Coburn was the 2017 world champion and earned bronze at the 2016 Olympics. She has a PB of 9:02.35 from 2019 and hasn't run a steeple for two years. Val Constien was an Olympic finalist at Tokyo in 2021 and won the Olympic Trials in 2024. She has a best of 9:03.22 that ranks her as the No. 3 all-time U.S. performer. Fifth on that all-time list is Gabbi Jennings, who ran her PB of 9:06.61 to take sixth at last year's Pre Classic.
Better known at the longer distances, 10,000-meter Olympian Nico Young also has serious chops in the 1500 and is the ninth fastest American man ever in the mile with an indoor PB of 3:48.72 that he set in February at the Millrose Games. He is up against 2022 World Championships team member Cooper Teare, owner of a 3:32.16 career best, as well as Vincent Ciattei, the runner-up at this year's USATF 1 Mile Road Championships and a 3:31.67 man. Luke Houser grabbed bronze at the 2025 World Indoor Championships and won two NCAA indoor mile titles for Washington, and Graham Blanks is another runner who has had success at the longer distances, making the 2024 Olympic 5000 final, but is dropping down here.
American record holder Shelby Houlihan has focused on the longer distances so far this season but her 3:54.99 PB in the 1500 from 2019 has to put her among the favorites in the women's event. BYU redshirt Riley Chamberlain is the sixth fastest collegian ever with a best of 4:03.01 in February, and she ran a 4:25.27 mile at altitude on May 1 that shows she is in peak form. Jamaican record holder Adelle Tracey has a PB of 3:58.77 and has represented her country at the past four global championships. Other top Americans include Maggie Congdon, a World Championships 800 semifinalist at Tokyo last year who has run 4:02.79.
Woody Kincaid is the fourth fastest man in American history over 5000 meters with an indoor PB of 12:51.61, and he will lead a strong field that includes 2021 Olympic silver medalist Moh Ahmed of Canada. Ahmed, who has run 12:47.20, is a three-time Olympian in the event and has repped Canada in the 10,000 in four Olympic Games. NCAA indoor champion Habtom Samuel of New Mexico and Eritrea is also scheduled to be on the start line and is the third fastest man in collegiate history with a 13:03.47 at the Clay Invitational in April. USATF 5K road champion Drew Hunter is also a strong threat with a 13:08.57 PB that is due for a lowering.
Former collegiate record holder and two-time NCAA champion Parker Valby will make her return to the track in the 5000, where she will run her first race on the track since an indoor 3000 at Boston in February 2025. Valby has PB of 14:51.44 and will be challenged by Australian Olympian Lauren Ryan, a 14:40.39 performer, as well as Diane Van Es of the Netherlands, an Olympic veteran in the 5 & 10 who has run 14:43.80. Germany's Lea Meyer and Maudie Skyring of Australia are two other sub-15 performers who could be a factor.
Reigning USATF women's 800 champion Roisin Willis set an American indoor record of 1:57.97 in January and was the NCAA gold medalist for Stanford last year. She faces familiar rival Michaela Rose, a former LSU star who is the second fastest collegian ever with a best of 1:58.12 and was fourth at last year's indoor and outdoor NCAA meets. Former American record holder Ajee' Wilson is the grand old dame of U.S. women's half-miling and is second on the all-time list with her PB of 1:55.61.
Wilson won the 2022 world indoor title and has a pair of World Championships bronzes to go with two World Indoor silvers. 2024 USATF indoor champion Allie Wilson was an Olympian at Paris, making the semis, and she has a career best of 1:57.52. Other contenders include Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Raevyn Rogers, the No. 5 all-time American at 1:56.81, and Valery Tobias, the runner-up at this year's USATF Indoor Championships.
Speed merchants will also have a chance to shine, and nobody would love to succeed more than Michael Norman, a local product who is the fifth fastest American ever in the men's 400. Norman won the 2022 world title and was a finalist at the last two Olympic Games. He earned gold on the Team USATF 4x400 at Tokyo in 2021 and has a PB of 43.45 that ranks him No. 7 on the world all-time list. Two-time NCAA champion Randolph Ross earned gold on the U.S. 4x400 at Tokyo in 2021 and has a best of 43.85, but hasn't neared that form of late.
Five women who have broken 50 seconds in the 400 will be headlined by Alexis Holmes, a 49.77 performer who has an Olympic gold medal in the 4x400 from Paris '24 and a pair of mixed 4x400 golds from the past two World Championships. Fastest of all the entrants with a 49.46 PB, Kendall Ellis has Olympic relay gold from Tokyo '21 and repped Team USATF in the 400 at three World Championships and the '24 Olympics.
Jamaica's Candice McLeod was fifth at the Tokyo Game sin 2021 and has a best of 49.51, while Shamier Little was an Olympic 4x400 gold medalist for the U.S. at Paris and at this year's World Indoor Championships. She earned silver in the 400 hurdles at the 2015 and 2023 World Championships. Rosey Effiong has a World Championships gold in the mixed 4x400 and a pair of World Indoor golds in the 4x400, including at this year's edition in Poland. She has a PB of 49.72.
A high-powered trio of all-time U.S. top 10 women in the 100 hurdles includes former world record holder Keni Harrison, the Olympic silver medalist in 2021 and t he No. 3 all-time American at 12.20. 2019 world champion Nia Ali holds the No. 7 slot on the all-time U.S. list with a best of 12.30, and she earned silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Alaysha Johnson was seventh at the 2024 Olympics and her 12.31 at that year's Olympic Trials puts her at No. 8 all-time. Two-time USATF indoor 60H champion Gabbi Cunningham was seventh at Tokyo in 2021.
The dashes will be spicy with nine women who have run faster than 11 seconds in the 100 and six men who have cracked the 10-second barrier. Jacious Sears in the quickest of the women with a best of 10.77 and she earned silver in the 60 at the World Indoor Championships in March. 2023 World Championships 4x100 gold medalist and 100 finalist Tamari Davis has a PB of 10.83, and her teammate on that relay, Tamara Clark, has run 10.88 in her career. Jamaica's Briana Williams picked up Olympic 4x100 gold in 2021 and has a pair of World Championships relay silvers to accompany her 10.94 PB.
Leading the U.S. list in 2026 at 9.90, Max Thomas is enjoying a breakout season. He helped Team USATF to 4x100 gold at the World Relays in Botswana earlier this month and has also notched a 200 PB of 19.98. Pjai Austin and Ronnie Baker were also gold medalists on that World Relays 100, and Baker was an Olympic fifth-place finisher at Tokyo in 2021. He has a PB of 9.83 that ranks him 10th on the all-time U.S. performer list. Austin ran his PB of 9.89 in 2023. Jamaica's Ackeem Blake, a World Championships semifinalist in 2025, is always dangerous and recorded his PB of 9.88 last year.
In the only field event on the schedule, Sandi Morris tops a small but talented group in the women's pole vault. The reigning USATF champion and the No. 4 all-time world performer with a PB of 5.00/16-4.75, Morris won both competitions at the Drake Relays in April and has two World Indoor titles on her résumé. 2024 Olympian Brynn King has been mentored by American record holder Jenn Suhr and has a PB of 4.75/15-7 to rank =9th on the all-time U.S. list.
Jamar Marshall leads men's 110 hurdles entrants with a 13.13 PB, with Louis Rollins and Johnny Brackins providing the strongest challenges. British Olympian Tade Ojora has a best of 13.26 and has captured five UK national titles.