Wallace Spearmon, Jr., (born December 24, 1984 in Chicago, Illinois, USA) is a sprint athlete, who specializes in the 200 meters. He is a two-time NCAA outdoor champion in the 200 m and won the silver medal in the event at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics. He has a personal best of 19.65 seconds for the distance, currently the seventh fastest runner of all-time and he also holds the indoor American record.
He has won the bronze medal twice at the World Championships in Athletics in 2007 and 2009. He also finished third at the 2008 Summer Olympics, but was later disqualified for stepping out of his lane.
[edit] Career
Spearmon is a graduate of Fayetteville High School and attended the University of Arkansas, where he competed collegiately for two seasons before turning pro. While at Arkansas, he won the 200 meters NCAA Outdoor title in 2004 and 2005 as well as the NCAA Indoor 200 m title in 2005. In August 2005, he won the silver medal in the 200 m at the 2005 World Championships and in August 2007, he won the bronze medal at the 2007 World Championships. Spearmon won the 200 m at the USA outdoor athletics championships in 2006 and finished second in 2007. At the 2009 World Championships in Berlin he won another bronze. He ran a world best time of 31.88 for the 300 m indoors in February 2006.[1]
His personal best in the 200 m is 19.65 seconds. This time (achieved in Daegu, Korea) made him the third fastest man over the distance at that point.[2] He is currently ranked as the fifth fastest runner ever. Only world record holder Usain Bolt (19.19), Yohan Blake (19.26), Michael Johnson (19.32), Walter Dix (19.53), his training partner Tyson Gay (19.58), and Xavier Carter (19.63) have run faster. Despite the fact that he normally runs a "slower" first half of his 200 m races and goes on to pass people down the stretch, his 100 meters personal best is 9.96 s. He set that mark running in Shanghai on September 28, 2007, beating 100 m world champion Tyson Gay.
Spearmon initially finished in the bronze medal position in the 200 m in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, but was disqualified for stepping out of his lane. The second place finisher, Churandy Martina of the Netherlands Antilles, was also disqualified, giving Americans Shawn Crawford and Walter Dix the silver and bronze medals, respectively.[3]
He posted a quick time of 19.98 seconds in the 200 m in Kingston, Jamaica in April 2010, finishing behind Usain Bolt.[4] He reached the 2010 IAAF Diamond League 200 m final at the Weltklasse Zurich meeting, and (in the absence of points leader Walter Dix) he won the first Diamond Race Trophy with a meeting record of 19.79 seconds.[5] Following the Diamond League win, he ran 19.85 seconds to win at the Rieti IAAF Grand Prix.[6]
[edit] Personal life
Spearmon's father, Wallace Spearmon, Sr, also was a sprinter. He was the 1987 bronze medalist in the 200 meters at the Pan American Games.
He was engaged to fellow American track athlete Monica Hargrove, but is no longer.[7]
On an April 2011 episode of MythBusters, he worked with Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman to demonstrate the possibility of a human running on water.
[edit] Personal bests
| Event |
Time (sec) |
Venue |
Date |
| 60 meters |
6.70 |
Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States |
January 26, 2008 |
| 100 meters |
9.96 |
Shanghai, China |
September 28, 2007 |
| 200 meters |
19.65 |
Daegu, South Korea |
September 28, 2006 |
| 200 meters (indoors) |
20.10 NR |
Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States |
March 11, 2005 |
| 300 meters (indoors) |
31.88 WR |
Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States |
February 10, 2006 |
| 400 meters |
45.22 |
Paris, France |
July 8, 2006 |
- All information taken from IAAF profile.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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- 1983: United States
- 1987: United States
- 1991: United States
- 1993: United States
- 1995: Canada
- 1997: Canada
- 1999: United States
- 2001: South Africa
- 2003: United States
- 2005: France
- 2007: United States
- 2009: Jamaica
- 2011: Jamaica
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- 1991: Germany (Lieder, Carlowitz, Just, Schönlebe)
- 1993: USA (Hall, Irvin, Rouser, Everett)
- 1995: USA (Tolbert, Davis, Long, Atwater)
- 1997: USA (Rouser, Everett, Maye, Minor)
- 1999: USA (Morris, Johnson, Minor, Campbell)
- 2001: Poland (Rysiukiewicz, Haczek, Bocian, Maćkowiak)
- 2003: USA (Davis, Young, Campbell, Washington)
- 2004: Jamaica (Haughton, Colquhoun, McDonald, Clarke)
- 2006: USA (Washington, Merritt, Campbell, Spearmon)
- 2008: USA (Davis, Torrance, Nixon, Willie)
- 2010: USA (Torrance, Nixon, Tate, Jackson)
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- 1977: United States (Collins, Riddick, Wiley, Williams)
- 1979: Americas (Lara, dos Santos, Leonard, de Araújo)
- 1981: Europe (Zwoliński, Licznerski, Dunecki, Woronin)
- 1985: United States (Glance, Baptiste, Smith, Evans)
- 1989: United States (Cason, Dees, Council, Watkins)
- 1992: United States (Bridgwater, Braunskill, Smith, Williams)
- 1994: Great Britain (Braithwaite, Jarrett, Regis, Christie)
- 1998: Great Britain (Condon, Devonish, Golding, Chambers)
- 2002: United States (Drummond, Smoots, Conwright, Miller)
- 2006: United States (Conwright, Spearmon, Gay, Smoots)
- 2010: Americas (Bailey, Spearmon, Gay, Martina)
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| Persondata |
| Name |
Spearmon, Wallace |
| Alternative names |
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| Short description |
American Olympic sprinter |
| Date of birth |
December 24, 1984 |
| Place of birth |
Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Date of death |
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| Place of death |
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United States
