BYU's Walker earns gold medal at World University Games


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: Less than a minute

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

GWANGJU, South Korea — In perhaps the biggest win of his career to date, BYU track and field standout Shaq Walker used a late push to win the gold medal in the 800-meter run at the World University Games in Korea Sunday.

Walker finished with a winning time of 1 minute, 48.05 seconds in the final heat, beating Morocco's Abdelati El Guesse (1:49.29) and South Africa's Rynardt Van Rensburg (1:49.30).

The BYU sophomore previously set a new school record in the 800 meters with a 1:45.58 June 30 at the USA Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, where Walker finished sixth overall.

Walker nearly grabbed a silver medal in the 4x100-meter relay as well. However, his squad, which also included Utah State senior sprinter Cole Lambourne, was disqualified for an illegal push-off on one of the exchanges.

"It was really fun overall," Lambourne said in a statement provided by Utah State. "I'm just disappointed to be coming home empty-handed when we earned a medal."

Recent Utah State graduate Chari Hawkins placed fourth in the women's heptathlon with 5,707 points Sunday.

BYU's Shea Martinez won the bronze medal in the women's 800.

Related stories

Most recent Sports stories

Related topics

SportsBYU Cougars
Sean Walker

    ARE YOU GAME?

    From first downs to buzzer beaters, get KSL.com’s top sports stories delivered to your inbox weekly.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast