Collegians At The 2024 Paris Olympic Games

The Paris Olympics are well underway!

There are a number of athletes who competed in the U.S. collegiate system in 2024 among those entered

Let’s see how they fared in the City of Lights.

How Collegians Fared At The 2024 Paris Olympics
Name	Program	Event	Medal
Rojé Stona	Arkansas	Men’s Discus	Gold
Eugene Omalla	Kansas State	Mixed 4×400 Relay	Gold
Kaylyn Brown	Arkansas	Women’s 4×400 Relay	Gold
Aaliyah Butler	Georgia	Women’s 4×400 Relay	Gold
Leo Neugebauer	Texas	Decathlon	Silver
Wayne Pinnock	Arkansas	Men’s Long Jump	Silver
Shaun Maswanganyi	Houston	Men’s 4×100 Relay	Silver
Kaylyn Brown	Arkansas	Mixed 4×400 Relay	Silver
Louie Hinchliffe	Houston	Men’s 4×100 Relay	Bronze
Amber Anning	Arkansas	Women’s 4×400 Relay	Bronze
Amber Anning	Arkansas	Mixed 4×400 Relay	Bronze
Yemi John	Southern California	Women’s 4×400 Relay	Bronze

We’ll continue to update this post throughout the 11-day Athletics program.

Stona Edges Alekna For Gold

Rojé Stona’s lifetime best gave him a moment for a lifetime, winning the discus gold by a scant three centimeters and defeating the world record holder at the same time.

The Arkansas senior, who had indoor eligibility only this past year, uncorked his best of 70.00m (229-9) in Round 4.

That was an Olympic record, topping the 69.97m (229-6) by Mykolas Alekna from Round 2 – which at the time was the Olympic record, breaking the 69.89m (229-3) set by his dad, Virgilijus in winning the second of his two Olympic golds in 2004.

Neugebauer Gets Historic Silver

Leo Neugebauer added more history to his incredible career at Texas in earning the silver medal in Paris as he became the first collegian since 1960 to collect an Olympic decathlon medal.

The collegiate record holder with 8961 points from winning his second-straight title at the NCAA DI Outdoor Track & Field Championships in June, Neugebauer scored 8748 points in Paris, which is the No. 3 performance on the all-time, all-dates collegiate. Of course, Neugebauer has the two higher scores at 8961 and 8836, the latter being his score from winning the 2023 NCAA title.

Neugebauer now owns five of the top-6 performances on the all-time, all-dates collegiate list.

Pinnock Leaps To Silver Medal

Wayne Pinnock of Arkansas earned the silver medal in the long jump with a mark of 8.36m (27-5¼). It was the second-straight global silver for Pinnock after also finishing second in last year’s World Championships.

Pinnock won the NCAA DI Indoor title this past winner. In 2022 he swept the NCAA DI Indoor & Outdoor titles while competing for Tennessee.

Brown Collects Gold, Silver & A World Record

Arkansas freshman Kaylyn Brown came away from Paris with a unique collection of achievements – a gold medal, a silver medal and a world record.

Brown anchored the U.S. mixed 4×400 relay team twice with admirable performances, the latter of which earned a silver medal. She also anchored the U.S. women’s team in the prelims, earning a gold medal as the Americans won the final.

In the prelims she clocked a 49.45 split to bring the Americans across the line in 3:07.41 in setting a new world record. She ran an even faster split in the final at 49.23 as the U.S. squad was second in 3:07.74 behind the Netherlands, which grabbed the gold in 3:07.43.

During the collegiate season, Brown anchored the Razorbacks to the NCAA DI Outdoor women’s 4×400 title with a 49.04 split as Arkansas set a collegiate record of 3:17.96.

Jones Sets All-Time, All-Dates 400 Hurdles Best

Jasmine Jones of Southern California completed a 1-2-4 finish by Americans in the 400-meter hurdles as all three ran lifetime bests.

While Jones just missed a medal by 0.14 seconds, she earned the distinction of becoming the fastest collegian on an all-dates basis with her time of 52.29. That mark supplanted the 52.75 that Kentucky’s Sydney McLaughlin had run in 2018.

McLaughlin, by the way, led the U.S. in Paris with a gold medal in lowering her own world record to 50.37.

Valby Runs Sub-31 Again

Florida’s Parker Valby was brilliant once again in the 10,000 meters, clocking 30:59.28 for 11th place.

That mark is No. 2 on the all-time, all-dates collegiate list – behind only her Collegiate Record 30:50.43 in her debut in the event in April. Valby now has four entries among the all-time top-9, including efforts of 31:41.56 and 31:46.09.

Valby collected five NCAA DI titles in the 2023-24 academic year – cross country, indoors at 3000 and 5000, and outdoors at 5000 and 10,000.

Whittaker Makes 800 Final With Big PR

Juliette Whittaker of Stanford lowered her PR by 0.69 seconds in running 1:57.76 in the 800-meter semifinals, advancing to the final as the fastest non-automatic qualifier.

That time puts her No. 3 on the all-time, all-dates collegiate list behind only Texas A&M’s Athing Mu (1:55.04 in 2021) and Addy Wiley of Huntington (Ind.) (1:57.64 last year). Mu won the Tokyo Olympic title that year before being awarded The Bowerman in December for her achievements during the collegiate seasons.

Whittaker finished seventh in the Olympic final in 1:58.50, just off her previous PR of 1:58.45. During the collegiate seasons, she swept the 800 this year at the NCAA DI Indoor and Outdoor Championships.

O’Sullivan, Ramsden, Kazimierska Post All-Time 1500 Marks

The women’s 1500-meter all-time, all-dates collegiate list took multiple hits in Paris as the trio of Sophie O’Sullivan, Maia Ramsden and Klaudia Kazimierska ran multiple fast times in the heats, repechage round, semifinals and/or finals.

O’Sullivan, who competed for Washington as a collegian, was first with a fast time, clocking 4:00.28 in heat 1 to then become the No. 3 performer behind only Addy Wiley of Huntington (Ind.) (3:59.17 last year) and Colorado’s Jenny (Barringer) Simpson (3:59.90 in 2009). O’Sullivan next ran in the repechage round, where her hopes of making the final ended despite another fast time (4:03.73).

In the second heat, Ramsden – the NCAA DI Outdoor champion for Harvard this year – ran 4:02.83, which was then the No. 10 performance all-time, while Oregon’s Kazimierska in heat 3 clocked 4:03.49, then the 12th-fastest all-time on that list as both advanced to the semifinals.

In the semis, Kazimierska ran a PR 4:00.21 – not only advancing to the final but becoming No. 3 on the all-time, all-dates collegiate list. Ramsden also PRed with a New Zealand record 4:02.20, good enough to strengthen her position at No. 6 on the all-time, all-dates list, but not advancing to the final with her eighth-place finish.

Kazimierska improved her best again in the final to 4:00.12, strengthening her position at No. 3 all-time. She now owns three of the top-7 all-time performances: 4:00.12 (No. 3), 4:00.21 (No. 4) and 4:01.89 (No. 7).

Stark Hurdles Into Olympic Final

Grace Stark hits another gear after the NCAA season.

Stark, who competed for Florida in 2024, posted the third-fastest qualifying mark in the semifinal round of the Women’s 100-Meter Hurdles on Friday. She covered the distance and cleared the barriers in 12.39 (+0.5), which is the fourth-fastest mark on the all-time, all-dates collegiate list.

Six weeks earlier, Stark clocked the second-fastest mark on that chart of 12.31 (+0.7) when she placed third at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Track & Field. 2013 The Bowerman winner Brianna Rollins-McNeal holds the all-time, all-dates collegiate best at 12.26 (+1.2) from the 2013 USATF Outdoor Championships.