Olympic gold medalists Aries Merritt, Ashton Eaton, LaShawn Merritt, Justin Gatlin, Dawn Harper-Nelson and Sanya Richards-Ross are among the U.S. stars in action at the Drake Relays and Penn Relays this weekend.
On Friday, the Drake Relays will be broadcast on Universal Sports and USATF.TV from 8-9:30 p.m. ET.
Key events include the 110m hurdles (8:13) with Olympic champion and world record holder Aries Merritt, 2013 World champion David Oliver and Eaton, the Olympic decathlon champion.
World champion LaShawn Merritt leads the 400m field (8:24) against Olympic champion Kirani James, U.S. champion Gil Roberts, World silver medalist Tony McQuay and Josh Mance, rounding out the four fastest Americans in the event last year.
The men’s 400m hurdles (8:36) includes the 2008 and 2012 Olympic silver and bronze medalists — Michael Tinsley, Javier Culson, Kerron Clement and Bershawn Jackson.
The women’s 800m (9:00) includes all three 2013 World Championships team members — Brenda Martinez, Alysia Montano and Ajee’ Wilson.
On Saturday, the Penn Relays will be on NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra from 12:30-3 p.m. ET.
Here’s the schedule of USA vs. the World relays (potential headliners):
12:38 – Men’s 4×100 (Justin Gatlin, Asafa Powell)
12:50 – Women’s 4×100 (Kaylin Whitney, Kerron Stewart)
2:00 – Women’s 4×200 (Kaylin Whitney, Kerron Stewart)
2:10 – Men’s 4×200 (Gatlin, Wallace Spearmon)
2:35 – Women’s 4×400 (Dee Dee Trotter)
2:52 – Men’s 4×400
Later Saturday, NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra will broadcast the Drake Relays from 3-5 p.m. ET.
The marquee events will be the 100m hurdles (3:30) featuring 2008 Olympic champion Harper-Nelson and the women’s 400m (4:05) with the two fastest women in the world last year — Francena McCorory and Olympic champion Richards-Ross.
The full Drake Relays schedule is here. The full Penn Relays schedule is here.
