The decathlon came to a bit of an early end for Whitefish’s Lee Walburn Saturday after eight events during the U.S. Olympic Trials at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
Walburn, competing for Washington State, began the day in 10th place after the first five events. He started the second day by running 15.05 seconds in the 110 hurdles.
Then he threw 152 feet, 10 inches in the discus on his opening attempt of three to secure the fifth-best mark.
Walburn made three clearances in the pole vault before topping out at 15-11 and moved up to ninth place in the overall decathlon table with 6,555 points.
People are also reading…
Lee Walburn long jumps during the decathlon of the U.S. Olympic Trials June 21, 2024 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
That was where his day ended when according to a Washington State post on X that he suffered “a lower leg injury” during the pole vault. He did not complete the final two events of the javelin or the 1,500 and ultimately slid to a 15th-place overall finish.
Heath Baldwin won the event with 8,625 points. Zach Ziemek was second in 8,516 and Harrison Williams was third with 8,384. All three will represent the U.S. in Paris at the Olympics later this summer.
It was also the second decathlon for Walburn in just two weeks. He earned All-America status by placing seventh at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field championship. The two-time NAIA national champion at Carroll College transferred to Washington State in 2021.
Walburn was one of three athletes to come from the Flathead Valley competing at the Trials this week. Both Ben Perrin (men’s 10,000) and Evan Todd (men’s javelin) competed Friday.
