PHILADELPHIA - We are closing into the 128th running of The Penn Relays presented by Toyota at historical Franklin Field, and we're excited to announce the next Olympic Development field with the Toyota Men's 800m, an event that has seven countries represented.
 

TOYOTA OLYMPIC DEVELOPMENT MEN'S 800M

NAME	COUNTRY	PERSONAL BEST
Festus Lagat	Kenya	1:44.31
Kyle Langford	Great Britain & N.I.	1:44.49
Navasky Anderson	Jamaica	1:44.69
Noah Kibet	Kenya	1:44.88
Vince Crisp	USA	1:45.03
Sho Kawamoto	Japan	1:45.75
Luis Peralta	Dominican Republic	1:46.13
Luciano Fiore	USA	1:46.44
Sam Ellis	USA	1:46.77
Mario Garcia Romo	Spain	1:46.90

Festus Lagat leads the group with the top personal-best time in the field at 1:44.31, clocking it in June 2022 in Nairobi. He currently ranks 67th in the world in the event, and has made it as high as 26th. 

He'll be pushed by three others in the field that have sub-1:45 PRs in the event, including Kyle Langford (1:44.49), Navasky Anderson (1:44.69), and fellow Kenyan Noah Kibet (1:44.88). Langford finished fourth at World Championships in the 800m in 2017. Anderson took third at the Pan American Games in Chile back in November. Kibet, who ranks 30th in the world currently, finished second at World Indoor Championships in March 2022. The whole crew has won national championships in their respective countries. 

American Vince Crisp and Japan's Sho Kawamoto enter the field with times in the 1:45 range. Crisp, who competed at the Penn Relays last year in the 600m for a third-place finish, clocked his PR of 1:45.03 in 2022 at the Sound Running Sunset Tour in LA. Kawamoto is a six-time national champion in Japan in the 800m with his most recent coming this past June. His career-best time of 1:45.75 remains the Japanese national record, as he holds it for outdoor and indoor. 

Luis Peralta, representing the Dominican Republic, finished fifth in the Millrose Games in the 800m this year.
 
Luciano Fiore of the Atlanta Track Club won the Raleigh Relays 800m to open the spring season and was a USA Championships semi-finalist in 2023, as he is the only competitor in the field that ran in the Penn Relays 800m event last year.
 
Sam Ellis and and Mario Garcia Romo are testing their speed in the 800 as both very accomplished 1,500m runners. Ellis finished third in the NCAA Championships 1,500m in 2022. Romo finished second in the Benjamin Franklin Mile at the Relays last year, and has a decorated college past at Franklin Field where he won the 4x800 with his Ole Miss squad as the anchor leg in 2022. He also finished fourth place in the 1,500m for Spain at the 2022 World Championships, and sixth at 2023 World Championships in Budapest. 

The 128th running of the Penn Relays is set for April 25-27 at Franklin Field. Don't miss out on the largest track and field event in the country, with over 15,000 athletes competing across three days ranging from high school, college, professional, and masters. Buy your tickets today!