Six Rio Olympians headline start-studded fields at Drake Blue Oval Showcase presented by Mediacom

DES MOINES, IOWA -- Six 2016 Olympians, including gold medalists Tianna Bartoletta and Ryan Crouser, headline Saturday's Drake Blue Oval Showcase Presented by Mediacom at Drake Stadium.
 
Star-studded fields in nine events, six on the track and three in the field, will go head-to-head on the same facility that produced stunning performances at last year's Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships.
 
Watch the action live on Saturday, August 29, at 12:30 pm ET on USATF.TV+. Entries can be found here and live results here.
 
Reigning Olympic men's shot put champion Crouser (Fayetteville, Arkansas) already has one win at Drake to his credit this week after dominating the Shot Put Showcase on Tuesday with a 22.56m/74-0.25 blast. It equaled the 26th best performance in history and set the stage for another crack at the world record of 23.12m/75-10.25 that has stood for 30 years. At the World Championships in Doha last fall, Crouser took silver by only one centimeter behind fellow American Joe Kovacs, and he has the best throw in the world in 2020 with a 22.91m/75-2 that ranks him equal third on the all-time performer list.
 
Bartoletta (San Diego, California) was the women's long jump gold medalist in Rio and added a second gold in the 4x100m relay. She will line up in the 100m and long jump, facing last year's NCAA indoor champion in the 200m, Kayla White (Miami, Florida), in the dash and decathlon American record holder Jordan Gray (Kennesaw, Georgia) in the long jump.
 
Bahamian Shaunae Miller-Uibo won the women's 400m in Rio and was runner-up at Doha, and she will bring the world's top time in the 200m this year at 21.98 to take on Doha 200m silver medalist Brittany Brown (Iowa City, Iowa). Miller-Uibo's countrywoman, Tynia Gaither, was a finalist in the last two World Championships and claimed bronze at the 2019 Pan American Games.
 
Other top names in the half-lap sprint include and a pair of 400m specialists in Shakima Wimbley (Coral Gables, Florida) and Jessica Beard (College Station, Texas), both of whom were on Team USATF for the World Championships in 2019, and 2020 world 400m leader Lynna Irby (Clermont, Florida), who has also zipped to a 22.47 in the 200m this year. Add in NCAA record-holder and 2015 Pan American Games silver medalist Kyra Jefferson (Gainesville, Florida) and 2015 World Championships 400m hurdles silver medalist Shamier Little (Fayetteville, Arkansas), and the event promises to be one of the best of the meet.
 
A silver medalist at the last three major international outdoor championships, Sandi Morris (Fayetteville, Arkansas) is undefeated in the women's pole vault in 2020 and is the clear favorite. Her top challenger will likely be Megan Clark (Chula Vista, California), who was fourth at the USATF Indoor Championships in February.
 
Rio and Doha 110m hurdles finalist Devon Allen (Phoenix, Arizona) has clocked 13.36 in limited action in 2020 and is the man to beat in his specialty. Competing for the first time since 2018, Jarrion Lawson (Texarkana, Texas)) will try and regain some of the form that saw him place fourth in the long jump at Rio and earn a spot on the Team USATF 4x100m relay. He will run the 100m against Chris Belcher (Sayville, New York), who saw action at the past two World Championships, and 2012 relay Olympian Jeff Demps (Winter Garden, Florida).
 
An intriguing matchup in the men's 200m sees a pair of youngsters, Josephus Lyles (Alexandria, Virginia) and Justin Robinson (St. Louis, Missouri), go up against two-time Olympian and four-time World Championships vet Wallace Spearmon (Fayetteville, Arkansas), along with Panamanian Olympian Alonso Edward. Lyles is the younger brother of World 200m champion Noah Lyles and is a standout in his own right with a best of 20.24 this year, while high schooler Robinson leads the world list at 400m with a 44.91. He is the only high schooler to have two sub-45 second performances in a career.
 
Spearmon was the 2005 World Championships silver medalist, picking up gold in 2007 on the 4x100m relay, and Edward's best finish was a silver at the 2009 Worlds.
 
Returning to the track for the first time since 2018 after giving birth to a daughter in April 2019, 2008 Olympic 100m hurdles gold medalist and 2012 silver medalist Dawn Harper (St. Louis, Missouri) faces a pair of Rio finalists in British sisters Tiffany Porter and Cindy Ofili. They will be joined by 2019 Pan American Games bronze medalist Megan Tapper of Jamaica and 2019 Toyota USATF Outdoors semifinalists Payton Chadwick (Springdale, Arkansa) and Evonne Britton (El Paso, Texas).