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Olympic Gold Medalist Johnson To Run Drake Relays 110 Hurdles

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Olympic Gold Medalist Johnson To Run Drake Relays 110 Hurdles

DES MOINES, IOWA - Drake Relays director Brian Brown has disclosed that 1996 Olympic gold medalist Allen Johnson, the greatest hurdler in World Championship history, will be competing in the men's invitational 110 hurdles at 2:45 p.m. during the Saturday, April 26 session of America's Athletic Classic.

Defending champion Anwar Moore, who set the Drake Relays record in the event of 13.39 in 2005, will return, along with 2004 Olympian Richard Phillips from Jamaica.

Johnson, a three-time Olympian, has run a whopping 146 races in his career under 13.30, including a personal best of 12.92 to win the 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials.

"Brian (Drake Relays director Brown) has asked me quite a few times about competing at Drake," said Johnson. "I've heard what a great meet and how knowledgeable the crowd is, so I wanted to take the opportunity to get out there and see what it is all about.

"I will be more nervous running at the Drake Relays than competing in the finals of the Olympic Trials.

Johnson owns a combined seven world titles in the hurdles, earning the gold medal in the 110 hurdles in the World Outdoor Championships in 1995, 1997, 2001 and 2003, while also capturing the 60 hurdles crown in the World Indoor Championships in 1995, 2003 and 2004.

Johnson has been ranked in the top 10 in the world in the hurdles a remarkable 14 straight years, including No. 1 ratings in 1996-97 and 2000-06.

Johnson finished fourth in the 110 hurdles at the 2000 Olympics and competed in the 2004 Olympics. He set a meet record of 12.96 at the 2006 World Cup.

He ended the 2007 season ranked No. 6 in the world and is coming off a strong 2008 indoor season after finishing second in the 60 hurdles in the U.S. Championships and the World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain.

Johnson is a seven-time U.S. Outdoor champ (1996-97, 2000-03, 2005) and four-time U.S. Indoor champ (1995, 2002-04).

He ran a 2007 season best time of 13.23 in Grand Prix meets in Zurich and Shanghai.

Moore is coming off his best season yet, being ranked No. 4 in the world in 2007. He ran a personal best of 13.12 to win the Modesto Relays, which was the fifth fastest time in the world last year. He also won Grand Prix meets in Oslo and Rome. He finished fifth in the 2007 U.S. Outdoor Championships.

Moore, 29, was ranked seventh in the U.S. in 2005. He was third in the 60 hurdles at the 2006 U.S. Indoor Championships, while finishing sixth in 2006 and 2007.

Phillips ran a personal best of 13.39 in the qualifying rounds of the 2004 Olympics. He was fifth at the 2004 NCAA Outdoor Championships as a junior at George Mason.

Other entrants include Dexter Faulk, who was fifth in the 60 hurdles at the 2008 U.S. Indoor Championships; three-time Big 12 Outdoor champ Marlon Odom; and Jared MacLeod from Canada.

Johnson was second in the 60 hurdles (7.53) at the U.S. Indoor Championships in Roxbury Crossing, Mass., Feb. 24, while Moore was sixth (7.71)

Faulk was a four-time national junior college hurdle champion at Barton (Kan.) Community College and owns a personal best of 13.34 set in Tomblaine, France, last year.

Odom was fifth in the 110 hurdles at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championships as a senior at Texas Tech. MacLeod ran in the Pan American Games and World Championships last year and owns a personal best of 13.54.

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