Clarke wins bronze with PR throw, punches ticket to Worlds
Jordan Clarke
Make room because he’s in the club.
Clarke, 24, today earned a bronze medal at the USATF Championships in Eugene, Oregon, with a personal-best throw of 70 feet, 6.25 inches to win a berth to the IAAF World Championships for the first time.
He will join Janay DeLoach of Fairbanks in August in Beijing, China, to give Alaska two participants at track’s biggest stage next to the Olympics.
Clarke, of Bartlett High fame, surpassed the revered 70-foot mark for the second straight competition. He did it two weeks ago in winning a silver medal in a Diamond League meet in New York.
His previous PR was 70-1.5 – so this throw was five inches better. That kind of spike is crazy.
The 6-foot-4 Alaskan believed his training, technique and tapering would put him in position to challenge his PR at the national championships.
But then to do it on his final attempt with the weight of a Worlds berth on his shoulders really demonstrates Clarke’s big-meet prowess. This guy just doesn’t wilt under the pressure of a major meet.