Brad Walker (athlete)

Brad Walker (born June 21, 1981 in Aberdeen, South Dakota) is an American pole vaulter.

High School Years

Walker attended University High School in Spokane, Washington and competed in football and track & field. In track, Walker was coached by Reg Hulbert and won All-Greater Spokane League honors following his senior seasonFact|date=June 2008. Brad Walker graduated from University High School in 1999 with a 3.89 GPAFact|date=June 2008.

College and Career

Walker attended the University of Washington, where he was a member of Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity. While there, he became 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 the 1st of September, 2007.On 8 June 2008 Walker jumped in Eugene to a new personal and American record with 6.04.cite web |author=Kirby Lee for the IAAF |title=American record 6.04m for Walker |url=http://www.iaaf.org/GP08/news/kind=100/newsid=45261.html |accessdate=2008-06-09] In the 2008 Olympics, Walker made the team on pole vault but failed to clear a single vault in the preliminaries.

Video Interview

* [http://www.flocasts.com/flotrack/search.php?q=brad+walker Flotrack.com Video Interview of Brad Walker during the 100th Millrose Games]

References

*iaaf name|id=189449|name=Brad Walker
* [http://gohuskies.collegesports.com/sports/c-track/mtt/walker_brad00.html University of Washington]
* [http://bradwalker.us USA Pole Vaulter - Brad Walker]