The 116th Drake Relays opened on Wednesday morning in Des Moines with its traditional multi-event starter and a pair of familiar faces on the Blue Oval. Jakob Tordsen, the 2022 decathlon champion, returned to a 26-man field that began at 11:30 Central with the 100 metres, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400 metres, while Shaina Burns, the 2023 heptathlon winner, anchored an 18-woman heptathlon line-up that opened at 12:30 with the 100 metres hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200 metres. Both competitions will resume on Thursday, with the decathlon's 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500 metres completing the 10-event programme.
Drake's multi-event schedule has been quietly upgraded for 2026. Meet director Blake Boldon confirmed this month that the heptathlon and decathlon have been lifted into the World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze framework, with expanded prize money, certified implements and, for the first time, a live online scoring board syndicated through the Drake Relays website. Boldon's broader aim — to put the multi-events on the same footing as the Drake mile and the Drake shot put series — was evident in the slightly earlier start window and in the decision to run the heptathlon on the main straight rather than on the warm-up track as in previous editions. Athletes have been told to expect a 4,000-seat crowd by mid-afternoon on Thursday for the concluding 1,500 metres.
Tordsen, 27, has had an unusually consistent indoor season, scoring a season's-best 6,142 in the heptathlon at the Texas A&M Triangular in January before a Big 12 runner-up finish in February. His personal best of 7,984 outdoors, set at Drake in 2022, remains a benchmark for the meet, and he enters Wednesday as a genuine contender to crack the 8,000-point barrier. Tordsen's main opposition comes from Iowa State's Gable Sieperda and returning Drake multi-eventer Danny Kirwa, each of whom broke 7,900 in the 2025 Big 12 Championships. The decathlon will not pay a course-record bonus this year, but Boldon confirmed a travel allowance will be upgraded for any athlete over 8,100.
Burns, whose heptathlon personal best of 6,130 dates from the 2023 Big Ten Championships, has spent the spring training between Iowa State and the USATF's elite athlete coaching programme in Chula Vista. She faces a strong college field led by UNI junior Joey Perry, ranked ninth on the 2026 women's collegiate heptathlon list after a 5,942 in Fayetteville, and South Dakota's Maddie Richert, whose spring 6.30 long jump suggests a shot at the 6,200-point mark on her Drake debut. Burns told Iowa Public Radio on Tuesday that her goal was a top-three finish and a qualifying score for the USATF Outdoor Championships in Eugene in June.
Wednesday is a working day for Drake — the meet's traditional spectator highlights, the distance carnival, the Crouser-headlined World Shot Put Series and the Drake Blue Oval Showcase, do not begin until Thursday evening — but it sets the tone for what local organisers expect to be the best-attended 116th edition in memory. Single-day tickets for Saturday have already sold out, and Drake Stadium will host a live-streamed collegiate decathlon and heptathlon recap at 21:30 on Thursday that the broader athletics calendar has largely neglected. For Tordsen and Burns, two athletes whose professional careers have been built on this track, it is the quiet start to a weekend that could yet define their outdoor season.