Personal information | |
---|---|
Born | Aberdeen, South Dakota, U.S. | June 21, 1981
Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
Weight | 190 lb (86 kg) |
Spouse | Sage Walker [1] |
Sport | |
Country | United States |
Sport | Athletics |
Event | Pole Vault |
Medal record | |
Updated on August 11, 2012 |
Brad Walker (born June 21, 1981 in Aberdeen, South Dakota) is an American pole vaulter. He was the American recordholder and was the 2007 World Champion in the event.
Walker attended University High School in Spokane Valley, Washington and competed in football, basketball, and track and field. In track, Walker was coached by Reg Hulbert and won All-Greater Spokane League honors following his senior season.[ citation needed ] Walker graduated from University High School in 1999 with a 3.89 GPA.[ citation needed ]
Walker attended the University of Washington, where he was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. While there, he became NCAA indoor pole vault champion twice and four-time NCAA All-American under Coach Pat Licari. In 2005 he became both indoor and outdoor National Champion.
Perhaps not among the favorites in the 2005 World Championships, Walker nonetheless won the silver medal with 5.75. Two weeks later in Rieti he set a new personal best of 5.96. In 2006 he won the World Indoor Championships in Moscow with a jump of 5.80meters. In July 2006, at Jockgrim, Germany, Brad Walker, cleared 6 meters, the best performance of the year, in a pole vault competition. He won the gold in the world championships on September 1, 2007. On June 8, 2008 Walker jumped in Eugene to a new personal and American record with 6.04. [2] Walker qualified for the 2008 Olympics, but failed to clear a height in the preliminary rounds.
Walker retained his US championship title in 2009, even though his status as reigning World Champion gave him a bye into the 2009 World Championships in Athletics. [3]
At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Walker reached the final but finished 12th with a 5.50m vault. [4]
Timothy "Tim" Mack is an American pole vaulter who won the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics.
Lawrence Johnson is an American pole vaulter, born in Norfolk, Virginia. He earned the nickname "LoJo" at the University of Tennessee where he won four NCAA titles in the pole vault. LoJo began pole vaulting in 1989 and since has/holds records on all stages and led the charge to return the US to the international medal podium with two Olympic appearances, including a silver medal performance in 2000 Olympic games Sydney.
Giovanni Alessandro Lanaro Mercado is a Mexican former pole vaulter who is currently the Women's Head Coach at his alma mater, Mt. San Antonio College.
Allen Simms is an American triple jumper and Social Entrepreneur.
Tora Lian-Juin Harris is an American high jumper. He is a Princeton University engineer of Taiwanese and African-American descent. Harris is an Olympian, a four-time national champion and two-time bronze medalist in international competition. He represented Team USA twice in the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, three times in the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics and has served as a representative once in the IAAF Continental Cup. He spent two years as the No. 1 ranked high jumper in the United States.
Jennifer Lynn Suhr is an American former pole vaulter. She has been an Olympic and World champion, has been ranked #1 in the World, has been the #1 American pole vaulter since 2006, and has won a total of 17 US National Championships. She holds the world indoor pole vault record at 5.03 m. She holds the American women's pole vault record indoors. In 2008, she won the U.S. Olympic trials, setting an American record of 4.92 m and won a silver medal in the Beijing Olympics. She won the gold medal at the London Olympics on August 6, 2012. Track & Field News named her American Female Athlete of the Year for 2008.
Jack Bryan Whitt is an American pole vaulter. His personal best jump indoors is 5.72 m, achieved in June 2012 in Tulsa, OK. His best outdoor jump of 5.70 m came in May 2013 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He represented the United States at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics in Moscow.
Ashton James Eaton is a retired American decathlete and two-time Olympic champion, who holds the world record in the indoor heptathlon event. Eaton was the second decathlete to break the 9,000-point barrier in the decathlon, with 9,039 points, a score he bettered on August 29, 2015, when he beat his own world record with a score of 9,045 points, and remains the only person to exceed 9000 points twice. His world record was broken by Frenchman Kevin Mayer on September 16, 2018, with a total of 9,126 points, who became the third man to pass the 9,000-point barrier.
James Edward "Trey" Hardee III is a retired American track and field athlete who specialized in the combined events. He is a former NCAA Champion, a two-time World Outdoor Champion, a member of the United States 2008 Olympic team, and the silver medalist in the decathlon at the London 2012 Olympics. He was Inducted into the Texas Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2018.
Jillian Schwartz is an American-born female former pole vaulter who competed internationally for Israel. She represented the United States at the 2004 Summer Olympics and competed at five consecutive World Championships in Athletics from 2003 to 2011. Her best placing in international competition was fourth at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships.
Lacy Janson is an American track and field athlete who specialized in the pole vault. She was the 2010 USA indoor champion in the event and represented her country at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships. At college level, she won both an outdoor and an indoor NCAA title for Florida State University.
Christian Taylor is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in the triple jump and has a personal record of 18.21 m, which ranks 2nd on the all-time list.
Will Claye is an American track and field athlete of Sierra Leonean descent who competes in the long jump and triple jump. He won a bronze medal in 2011 World Championships in Athletics and the gold medals at the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships and 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships. In his Olympic debut at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Claye won a bronze medal in long jump and a silver medal in triple jump. He repeated his silver medal in the triple jump four years later. His personal best of 18.14 m, set at the Jim Bush Southern California USATF Championships in Long Beach on June 29, 2019, ranks him as the No. 4 triple jumper of all time.
Amanda Smock is an American triple jumper who competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics. In college, she was a three-time NCAA Division II track and field champion. She won the triple jump events at the United States Outdoor Championships in 2011 and 2012, and at the Indoor Championships in 2011.
Mary Saxer is an American track and field athlete who competes in the pole vault. She holds a personal record of 4.71 m for the event, set in 2014.
Armand "Mondo" Duplantis is a Swedish-American pole vaulter. Regarded as the greatest pole vaulter of all time, Duplantis is the current world outdoor and indoor record holder [6.26 m and 6.22 m respectively]. He is a two-time Olympic champion, two-time World outdoor and indoor champion, and the current European champion.
Sandi Morris is an American pole vault record holder. She won the silver medal in the pole vault event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She also won silver at the pole vault event at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics and another silver at the 2019 World Championships in Athletics. In 2018 she won gold at the World Indoor Championships. Morris has a personal best vault of 4.95 m indoor, set on March 12, 2016, in Portland, Oregon. She matched this height at the 2018 World Indoor Champships when setting a new championship record. July 23, 2016, Morris cleared 4.93 m at American Track League in Houston at Rice University breaking Jennifer Suhr's American outdoor record in the pole vault. Morris cleared 5.00 m at 2016 IAAF Diamond League Memorial Van Damme in Brussels on September 9, 2016, to set the U.S. women's outdoor pole vault record.
Kathryn Elizabeth Moon is an American pole vaulter. She won gold medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, 2022 and 2023 World Athletics Championships, and silver medals at the 2022 World Indoor Championships and the 2024 Summer Olympics. Moon was also the 2019 Pan American Games silver medalist.
Scott Houston is an American track and field athlete who competes in the pole vault. He was the American national indoor champion in 2018. He competed collegiately for both the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Indiana Hoosiers. Houston has also coached collegiate pole vaulters.
Christopher Nilsen is an American athlete specialising in pole vault and high jump. He won the silver medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in the pole vault event with a jump of 5.97 m.