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INDIANAPOLIS — A strong lineup of Olympic and World Championships competitors – including Jamaica’s latest sprint sensation – is set to face off in the USA vs. The World events at the Penn Relays on Saturday, April 29. Seven nations, plus Team USATF, will light up the lanes on the track at Franklin Field.
The international relay competition will be available on USATF.TV +PLUS and NBC Sports Group properties.
Penn Relays coverage begins Thursday at 10 a.m. ET on USATF.TV +PLUS, followed by Friday events starting at 9 a.m. and continuing on NBCSN from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage of USA vs. The World will air on NBCSN from 12:30 – 3:00 p.m. ET and on-demand on USATF.TV +PLUS. Click here for a full schedule.
Teams from the Bahamas, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti, Nigeria, and the British Virgin Islands are scheduled to compete in the six events staged Saturday afternoon. Athletes converge on the Franklin Field oval to vye for titles in the men’s and women’s 4x100m, 4x400m and sprint medley relays. Team USATF clinched five of the six events last year.
Highlighting the Team USATF roster are a quartet of women who won gold in Rio: Two-time Olympic 4x100m gold medalist and 2016 long jump champion Tianna Bartoletta (Elyria, Ohio); fellow 2016 4x100m gold medalists English Gardner (Voorhees, New Jersey) and Morolake Akinosun (Chicago, Illinois); and two-time 4x400m Olympic gold medalist Natasha Hastings (Brooklyn, New York).
With the USA-Jamaica rivalry always in the spotlight at Penn, Jamaica’s newest sprint queen, Rio 100m and 200m gold medalist Elaine Thompson provides international star power. She is joined by teammate Kerron Stewart, who owns two Olympic silver medals and one bronze.
On the men’s side, 2008 Team USATF Olympian Wallace Spearmon (Fayetteville, Arkansas) leads a group of competitive men including Brycen Spratling (Webster, New York) from 2016’s world-record setting men’s DMR squad; Casimir Loxsom (New Haven, Connecticut), a Penn State graduate and American record holder in the indoor 600m (1:14.91) and 2011 World Championships gold medalist in the 4x400m Mike Berry (Seattle, Washington). Spearmon, who has run 26 sub-20 200s, has also won gold in the 4x100m relay at the 2007 IAAF World Championships in Osaka.
Full list of competing athletes will be released next week. Invited athletes for USA vs. the World are subject to change.
Earlier this year, USATF and Penn announced a new partnership through 2020. The new partnership will expand television coverage from the traditional USA vs. the World relay events on Saturday to include a live, Friday night show on NBCSN. USATF.TV also will stream a live global webcast of the Penn Relays live during all three days of competition from 2017 through 2020.
Tickets are still available and can be purchased here.
