DES MOINES, IOWA – Three-time World Indoor 60 hurdles champion Lolo Jones will return home to the Drake Relays to seek her fifth Drake Relays title in the women’s invitational 100-meter hurdles. The event will take place at 3:05 p.m. during the Saturday, April 24 session.
Jones is part of a star field that Drake Relays Director Brian Brown has put together for this event with the existing meet record of 12.74 seconds, set by Jones in 2008, standing in jeopardy.
Jones made history on March 13, becoming the first woman ever to claim back-to-back titles in the 60 hurdles at the World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar while setting an American record in the process.
She won her third career World Indoor title in the 60 hurdles in 7.72 seconds, setting the American indoor mark and the world championship record, while just .04 seconds short of the world mark held by Sweden’s Susanna Kallur. She also had won the World Indoor title in Valencia, Spain in 2008 in 7.80.
Jones, 27, was ranked No. 1 in the world in 2008 but slipped to No. 8 after suffering multiple injuries. She was ranked No. 6 in the world in 2007 after being ranked No. 7 in 2006.
The 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials champion, Jones won three U.S. Indoor titles in 2007, 2008 and 2009 while finishing runner-up this year.
Jones posted a 2008 world leading mark of 12.43 seconds, which also was her personal best, during the semifinal round of the 2008 Olympics. She ran a top 2009 outdoor time of 12.47 in Rethimno, Greece, to defend her Grand Prix title.
The 29-year-old Felicien, from Pickering, Ontario, Canada, is owner of five Drake Relays individual career titles. She was named the outstanding women’s performer of the 2002 and 2003 Drake Relays.
Jones will compete with the following athletes in the invitational field:
• Perdita Felicien, 2010 Drake Relays Athletes Hall of Fame inductee who was ranked No. 6 in the world last year
• Damu Cherry, who was ranked No. 7 in the world and finished fourth in the 2008 Olympics
• Vonette Dixon of Jamaica, a 2008 Olympian
• Danielle Carruthers, two-time U.S. indoor 60 hurdle champion
• Candice Davis, silver medalist in the 2008 World Indoor Championships
Seun Adigun from Nigeria who was third in the 100 hurdles at the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Championship and Nichole Denby, who was third in the 60 hurdles in the 2007 U.S. Indoor Championship, round out the field.
Cherry finished fourth in the 100 hurdles at the 2008 Olympics, just 0.01 second away from a medal. She was third in the 2009 U.S. Outdoor Championship in 12.58.
Dixon set a personal best of 12.64 while finishing seventh at the 2007 World Outdoor Championships. Dixon was sixth in the 60 hurdles at the World Indoor Championship. She was eighth in the 100 hurdles at the 2001 World Outdoor Championships.
Davis finished second behind Jones to earn a silver medal in the 60 hurdles at the 2009 World Indoor Championship. Jones also clipped Davis at the wire (7.88 to 7.90) to defend her title in the 60 hurdles at the 2009 U.S. Indoor Championships.
Carruthers was fourth in the 60 hurdles at the 2006 World Indoor Championships. She won the 60 hurdles titles at the 2005 and 2006 U.S. Indoor Championships. She owns a personal best of 12.56 set at the 2004 Prefontaine Classic. Carruthers was fifth in the 2009 U.S. Outdoor Championships running 12.77.
As a junior at Houston, Adigun has a personal best of 12.88 en route to winning the 100 hurdles at the 2009 NCAA Midwest Regional Championship in Norman, Okla.
Denby has a personal best of 12.62 in the 100 hurdles en route to winning the 2004 NCAA Outdoor title as a senior at Texas. She was ranked No. 4 in the U.S. in 2008.