Cardinals Represented at 2022 World Athletics Championships

The 2022 World Athletics Championships are set to start on July 15 and will feature three athletes with ties to the University of Louisville track and field program. Gabriela Leon, who graduated in May 2022, will compete for the United States in the women's pole vault; 2016 graduate Ben Williams will represent Great Britain in the men's triple jump and volunteer assistant coach Shelby McEwen will compete for USATF in the men's high jump.

The first-ever outdoor World Championships to be hosted on U.S. soil will take place July 15-24 at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon.

Visit here for the final results.

Update as of July 21
Ben Williams finished 26th in the men's triple jump while competing for Great Britain. The 2016 Louisville graduate recorded a leap of 15.98m (52-5.25) on his final attempt.

Update as of July 18
Shelby McEwen finished fifth in the men's high jump. Louisville's volunteer assistant cleared heights of 2.19m (7-2.25), 2.24m, 2.27m (7 5.25), and 2.30m (7-6.5) – all on his first attempts, but missed bars of 2.33m (7-7.75) and 2.35m ( 7-8.5).

Update as of July 17
Gabriela Leon finished 12^th in the Women's Pole Vault at World Athletics Championship. The 2022 NCAA and ACC Women's Pole Vault champion cleared 4.30m (14-1.25) on her first attempt, but was unable to clear the next bar of 4.45m (14-7.25).

Update as of July 15
Shelby McEwen advanced to the men's high jump final after a mark of 2.28m (7-5.75) and an 11th place finish in the qualification round. McEwen registered leaps of 2.17m (7-1.50) and 2.21m (7-3) on his initial tries and recorded a mark of 2.28m on his third attempt to reach the finals. McEwen will return to action on Monday, July 18 at 5:45 p.m. (ET).

Gabriela Leon qualified for the women's pole vault final after tying for 12^th place in the qualification round with a clearance of 4.35m (14-3.25). The 2022 graduate cleared bars of 4.20m (13-9.25) and 4.35m (14-3.25) on her first attempts to finish among the qualifiers who will compete on Sunday, July 17 at 8:27 p.m. (ET).

About WCH Oregon22
The World Athletics Championships began in 1983 and will be taking place in the United States for the very first time at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon July 15-24, 2022.

Fans can watch the World Track & Field Championships starting July 15 in primetime on NBC, USA Network and streaming on Peacock. For more ways to follow the championships, click here.

Gabriela Leon | World Athletics Profile
Leon qualified for the world championships with a mark of 4.60m (15-1) and a fourth-place finish in the women's pole vault at the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships in June. After initially being listed as alternate, she will now compete for Team USA following withdrawal of Alina McDonald, who placed second at the USATF Outdoor Championships.

Leon, who also captured the 2022 NCAA and ACC outdoor pole vault titles, currently stands at No. 26 in the World Athletics Women's Pole Vault rankings, meeting the entry standard to compete in the World Championships.

The Grand Rapids, Michigan native was named the USTFCCCA Southeast Region Outdoor Women's Field Athlete of the Year, the ACC Women's Outdoor Field Performer of the Year as well as the league's Outdoor Track and Field Scholar Athlete of the Year. With her NCAA championship mark of 4.60m (15' 1"), Leon became the fourth-ever collegiate women's pole vaulter with three clearances of 4.60m (15' 1") and the only one this season with three marks of over 4.57m (15' 0") in collegiate competition.

Ben Williams | World Athletics Profile
Williams, a native of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and placed 22^nd in the overall standings.

Currently ranked No. 34 in the world, Williams has reached as high as No. 15 and held that spot for four weeks. In 2019, he became the first British triple jumper in seven years to hit the Olympic standard with a leap of 17.14m (56-2.75) when he won the gold medal at the European Athletics Team Championships in August 2019. He went on to achieve a lifetime best jump of 17.27m in the first round of the British Championships to claim the national title and secure a 2020 Olympic berth.

Williams is making his second appearance in the World Championships after previously competing in 2019 and finishing in 10^th place with a jump of 16.77m (55-0.25).

Williams competed for the Cardinals from 2013-16 and was a two-time NCAA Outdoor All-American, earning first team honors in 2015 and was a second team performer in 2016. Additionally, he won back-to-back ACC titles in the triple jump in 2015 and 2016. He also owns the school triple jump record of 16.74 (54-11.25) which secured a fourth-place finish at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Shelby McEwen | World Athletics Profile
McEwen, who served as a volunteer coach in the 2021-22 season, is also a 2020 Olympian, finishing 12^th in the Tokyo Games. The 2019 graduate of the University of Alabama and three-time NCAA high jump medalist, is making his second appearance in the World Athletics Championships. He currently stands at No. 10 in the world rankings.

University of Louisville Athletics

Cardinals Represented at 2022 World Athletics Championships

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