Michigan State’s Heath Baldwin wins decathlon at U.S. Olympic qualifiers
Heath Baldwin finished 13th.th in the decathlon at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, capping what he described as a bad year after transferring from Michigan to Michigan State.
Just two short years later, after missing a chance to compete for a title at the NCAAs, Baldwin’s long wait and decision paid off in a big way. The Spartan senior won the decathlon at the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Qualifiers on Saturday with a personal-best score of 8,625 points, qualifying for Paris after meeting the Olympic standard earlier this year.
After that two-day performance in Hayward in 2022, when Baldwin scored 7,538 points, he told himself he would never let that happen again.
Last school year, Baldwin placed second in the men’s heptathlon at the NCAA indoor finals and met the Olympic standard with a score of 8,470 at the Mt. SAC Relays in April.
At that moment, he knew he would have to forego a chance at an NCAA title in competition against college record holder Leo Neugebauer of Texas in order to prepare for Olympic qualification just two weeks later.
“It was a little bit of a risk, but I think that’s been our main focus all season,” Baldwin said. “When you have a guy like (Neugebauer), obviously you have to run 8,800m to win. I believe I can do that, but if I score high there and have to come back in two weeks at this meet and repeat that, it’s mentally exhausting. Any decathlon is mentally exhausting. I was able to stay fresh and focus for this meet.”
Baldwin was one of only four American decathletes to meet the Olympic qualifying standard, and his mind was not just on making the U.S. team and advancing to Paris, but on winning the preliminary competitions outright.
On his way to victory, he defeated pros Zach Ziemek (8,516) and Harrison Williams (8,384), who also advanced in second and third place, respectively. Former Oregon athlete Joseph Delgado finished ninth with 7,816 points and saved his best performance for last: he won the 1,500 meters in 4:31.92.
Baldwin won four of the ten events: he threw the shot put in 16.75 m, the high jump in 6.11¾, ran the 110-meter hurdles in 13.77 seconds and threw the javelin in 218-9 seconds. He finished in the top five in two other events, the long jump (24-5¾) and the pole vault (15-11).
“It’s kind of overwhelming, it’s pretty cool,” Baldwin said. “I feel like I’m pretty confident, so I knew that if I did my thing, this would happen. I’m not shocked, but to actually do it is pretty crazy. I’m still processing it… I’m excited that I’m getting the opportunity to compete against some of the best guys in the world, because I feel like I can get up there and represent the U.S. well.”
The Olympic decathlon begins on August 2 at the Stade de France.
Kyle Garland eliminated after pole vault
Kyle Garland entered the preliminary round with the highest score in the decathlon, but withdrew from the competition after the pole vault, likely due to injury. Garland had scored 6,231 points in seven events and was in second place when he withdrew.
Garland failed to finish at last year’s World Championships in Budapest and finished 11th at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene.
Alec Dietz covers football, volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball at the University of Oregon for The Register-Guard. You can reach him at [email protected] and you can follow him on X @AlecDietz.
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