 Bralon Taplin (right) at the 2016 World Indoor Championships | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 8 May 1992 St. George's, Grenada [1] |
| Weight | 79 kg (174 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event | 400 m |
| College team | Texas A&M University [2] |
| Coached by | Alleyne Francique |
Bralon Taplin (born 8 May 1992) is a Grenadian sprinter. [3]
Taplin is currently serving a seven year competition ban due to two separate violations against the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules. His ban is due to expire in September 2026. [4]
He competed in the 400 metres event at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing without advancing from the first round.
He switched his allegiance from the United States to Grenada in December 2012. [1] Previously he ran for Stony Point High School, winning the Texas state championship in the 400. then spent two years at South Plains College, winning the NJCAA Championship. He completed his college career at Texas A&M University. [2]
In 2016 he represented Grenada at the Rio Olympics and progressed to the final where he eventually placed 7th with a time of 44.45 seconds.
In 2017 he started his season by participating in the IAAF World Indoor Tour. The first event he would take part in as part of the Tour would be the PSD Bank Meeting, held in Düsseldorf, Germany where he finished first in his group [5] but second overall with a time of 46.25. [6] His second race of the Tour was the Copernicus Cup. He not only finished first overall but he also established a new meet record with a time of 45.59 seconds. [7] The third and deciding race of the Tour was the Müller Indoor Grand Prix which took place in Birmingham, England. In this race Bralon placed fourth with a time of 46.38 seconds. [8] The fourth-place finish meant that Bralon would have missed out on the " Wild Card" entry into the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham. [9] Aside from the Tour Bralon set a National record in the 300m sprint (indoor) with a time of 31.97 seconds. His time was the fourth fastest indoor 300m time when it was set and was achieved at the Czech Indoor Gala in Ostrava, Czech Republic. [10] [11]
Bralon began his individual 2018 season with a world leading 45.48 indoor at the Ted Nelson Invitational in College Station. [12] [13] At the Charlie Thomas Invitational in College Station, Texas on 3 February, Bralon ran a 44.88 indoor lifetime best over 400m. He became sixth man in history to better the 45-second barrier for 400m indoors. Bralon's time ranks him fifth on the world indoor all-time list, just two places and 0.08 behind his countryman Kirani James, the 2012 Olympic champion. [14]
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing  Grenada | |||||
| 2014 | Commonwealth Games | Glasgow, United Kingdom | 18th (sf) | 400 m | 46.68 |
| NACAC U23 Championships | Kamloops, Canada | 2nd | 400 m | 45.52 | |
| 2015 | Pan American Games | Toronto, Canada | 15th (h) | 400 m | 47.61 |
| World Championships | Beijing, China | 41st (h) | 400 m | 46.27 | |
| 2016 | World Indoor Championships | Portland, United States | 4th | 400 m | 46.56 |
| Olympic Games | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 7th | 400 m | 44.45 | |
| 2017 | IAAF World Indoor Tour - International PSD Bank Meeting Düsseldorf | Düsseldorf (ARENA-SPORTPARK), Germany | 2nd | 400m | 46.25 [15] |
| IAAF World Indoor Tour - Copernicus Cup | Toruń (ARENA), Poland | 1st | 400m | 45.59 [16] | |
| 2017 Czech Indoor Gala | Ostrava, Czech Republic | 1st | 300m | 31.97 'NR' [11] | |
| IAAF World Indoor Tour -Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix | Birmingham Barclaycard Arena England | 4th | 400m | 46.38 [17] | |
| 'Villa de Madrid' international Meeting | Madrid Spain | 1st | 400m | 45.19 PB [18] | |
Outdoor
Indoor
Kim Collins is a former Kittitian track and field sprinter. In 2003, he became the World Champion in the 100 metres. He represented his country at the Summer Olympics on five occasions, from 1996 to 2016, and was the country's first athlete to reach an Olympic final. He competed at ten editions of the World Championships in Athletics, from 1995 to 2015, winning five medals. He was a twice runner-up in the 60 metres at the IAAF World Indoor Championships. At regional level, he was a gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games and a silver medallist at the Pan American Games. As of 2023, he is the only Individual World Championships Gold medallist from Saint Kitts and Nevis.
The 800 metres, or meters, is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the first modern games in 1896. During the winter track season the event is usually run by completing four laps of an indoor 200-metre track.
60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At indoor events, the 60 metres is run on lanes set out in the middle of the 'field', as is the hurdles event over the same distance, thus avoiding some of the effects of the banked track encircling the venue, upon which other track events in indoor events are run. At outdoor venues it is a rare distance, at least for senior athletes. The format of the event is similar to other sprint distances. The sprinters follow three initial instructions: 'on your marks', instructing them to take up position in the starting blocks; 'set', instructing them to adopt a more efficient starting posture, which also isometrically preloads their muscles. This will enable them to start faster. The final instruction is the firing of the starter's pistol. Upon hearing this the sprinters stride forwards from the blocks.
David Gillick is an Irish international track and field athlete. He began his education in Our Lady's Boys School and attended St Benildus College secondary school in Kilmacud. He studied at Dublin Institute of Technology before moving to Loughborough University in the United Kingdom to train as a full-time athlete with coach Nick Dakin. Gillick specialises in the 400 metres and he won the European Indoor Championship in 2005 and 2007, as well as the Irish National Outdoor Championship in 2006 and 2007. He set the Irish Indoor record of 45.52 seconds in the 2007 final. The time also beat the Irish outdoor record of 45.58 and was within the Olympic 'A' qualifying standard for the 2008 Games. On 4 July 2009 he ran 44.77 seconds in a race in Madrid to set a new national record. He is also the 2009 Irish national 200 m champion.
LaShawn Merritt is an American track and field athlete who competes in sprinting events, specializing in the 400 metres. He is a former Olympic champion over the distance and his personal best of 43.65 seconds makes him the ninth fastest of all time.
Kirani James is a Grenadian professional sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres. He won the 400 m at the World Championships in 2011, and the 2012 London Olympics. In the 400 metres, James also won the silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, thus becoming the first man to earn the full set of three medals in the centennial history of the event. He is Grenada's first and only Olympic medalist. He holds the Grenadian national record in both the 200 metres and 400 metres.
The PSD Bank Meeting was an annual indoor track and field competition which took place in February at the Arena-Sportpark in Düsseldorf, Germany. The inaugural edition 1. Internationales Indoor Meeting Düsseldorf was held in 2006 and attracted a sell-out crowd of 1500 people. The competition was created following investment by the Düsseldorf municipal council, bringing a new usage to the venue which had served as a training facility for the 1977 IAAF World Cup.
Rondell Bartholomew is a Grenadian track and field sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres. He has represented his country at two World Championships in Athletics and was a 400 m world finalist in 2011. His personal best for the event is 44.65 seconds.
Mark Elliott Jelks is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 100-meter dash. He has a personal best of 9.99 seconds for the event and represented the United States at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics. In 2014, Jelks made a change in eligibility in order to represent Nigeria internationally. He represented his new country at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Wayde van Niekerk is a South African track and field sprinter who competes in the 200 and 400 metres. In the 400 metres, he is the current world and Olympic record holder, having set the record in the Olympic finals.
The men's 400 metres event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 12 and 14 August at the Olympic Stadium. Fifty-three athletes from 35 nations competed. The event was won by 0.73 seconds by Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa, who broke the world record in the 400m and won the nation's second gold medal in the men's 400 metres. Kirani James of Grenada and LaShawn Merritt of the United States became the sixth and seventh men to win two medals in the event, but Michael Johnson remained the only man with two gold medals.
Steven Gardiner is a Bahamian track and field sprinter competing in the 400 metres and 200 metres. He is the 2020 Olympic and 2019 world champion in the 400 m, and also won the silver medal at the 2017 World Championships in that event. His winning time of 43.48 s from the 2019 World Championships is the Bahamian record and makes him the sixth-fastest man in the history of the event. Gardiner also owns the Bahamian records in the outdoor 300 m and 200 m, with times of 31.83 s and 19.75 s respectively, and the world best in the indoor 300 m at 31.56 s.
Kendra "Keni" Harrison is an American hurdler. Harrison held the world record in the women's 100 metres hurdles with a time of 12.20 seconds, set on July 22, 2016 at the London Müller Anniversary Games, breaking the previous world record of 12.21 seconds achieved nearly 28 years earlier by Bulgarian athlete Yordanka Donkova.
Habitam Alemu Bayih is an Ethiopian middle-distance runner specialising in the 800 metres.
Christian Coleman is an American professional track and field sprinter who competes in the 100 meters and 200 meters. The 2019 world champion in the 100 meters, he also won gold as part of men's 4 × 100-meter relay. He holds personal bests of 9.76 seconds for the 100 m, which made him the 6th fastest all-time in the history of 100 metres event, and 19.85 for the 200 m. Coleman is the world indoor record holder for the 60 meters with 6.34 seconds. He was the Diamond League champion in 2018 & 2023 and the world number one ranked runner in the men's 100 m for the 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons.
Ronnie Baker is an American professional track and field athlete specializing in the sprints. Over 60 meters his personal best time of 6.40 seconds makes him the third-fastest man in the event in history. He was champion over 60 m at the USA Indoor Championships in 2017, a medalist over 60 m at the World Indoor Championships in 2018, and a gold medallist in the 4 × 100 m relay at the World Relays in 2017. Baker was a dominant competitor over 100 m in the Diamond League circuit in 2018, winning four races and placing no worse than second, including in the final where he also placed second. He was the fastest man in the world in 2017 over 60 m, and the second fastest in 2018 over both 60 m and 100 m. In college he competed for the TCU Horned Frogs, where he was champion over 60 m at the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships in both 2015 and 2016. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Ronnie Baker ran the personal best of 9.83 in the men's 100m semi-finals, which made him the 6th fastest man in the history of Olympics 100m event.
Fredrick Lee Kerley is an American professional track and field sprinter who started his career competing in the 400 meters until 2020, when he transitioned to the 100 meters and 200 meters. He has earned several medals at the World Championships in the 400 m and 4 × 400 m relay including an individual bronze and a relay gold at the 2019 edition. Kerley claimed 100 m gold in the 2022 edition.
The 2017 IAAF World Indoor Tour was the second edition of the IAAF World Indoor Tour, the highest level of annual series of track and field indoor meetings. It was designed to create an IAAF Diamond League-style circuit for indoor track and field events, to raise the profile of indoor track and field athletics.
Lieke Klaver is a Dutch track and field athlete who competes in sprinting. She specializes in the 200 metres and in the 400 metres. In the 4 × 400 metres relay, she is the 2023 World Champion and the 2024 World Indoor Champion with the Dutch women's team.
