DES MOINES, Iowa – The world's best athletes wasted little time making their presence known on the first day of the 115th running of the Drake Relays presented by Xtream powered by Mediacom.
It took only 20 minutes into Thursday's opening session for American record holder Rudy Winkler to set both a Drake Relays and Drake Stadium record in the WACT men's hammer throw, uncorking a throw of 81.08m/266-0 on his third attempt. It was the second-best throw in the world this spring.
"I have been training very well so I knew 80 meters was in the cards in terms of how my training has been going," said Winkler, who was sixth in the 2024 Paris Olympics.