BATON ROUGE – The 2016 indoor season will officially come to an end in Portland, Oregon, this weekend as five current and former LSU Track & Field athletes are among a world-class field ready to compete at this year’s IAAF World Indoor Championships beginning Friday and running through Sunday at the Oregon Convention Center.
While the competition begins Thursday with the men’s and women’s pole vault, athletes with LSU ties are set to compete for the first time Friday afternoon in qualifying races on the track.
Four nations are represented by the Tigers and Lady Tigers in Portland this weekend as 2016 U.S. Indoor Champion Vernon Norwood runs the 400 meters and 4×400-meter relay for the United States, 2016 NCAA Indoor Champion Fitzroy Dunkley lines up in the 400 meters and 4×400-meter relay for Jamaica, Natoya Goule lines up in the 800 meters for Jamaica, former World Outdoor Bronze Medalist Kelly-Ann Baptiste runs the 60 meters for Trinidad & Tobago and Gabriel Mvumvure lines up in the 60 meters for Zimbabwe.
Norwood was just crowned this year’s U.S. Indoor Champion in the men’s 400-meter dash on the same track at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland just five days ago when he recorded his seasonal-best time of 45.80 seconds in the final at the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships. He was a gold medalist in the 4×400-meter relay and semifinalist in the 400 meters at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics last summer.
Dunkley will represent Jamaica internationally for the first time while making his World Championships debut just one week after anchoring the Tigers to the NCAA Indoor title in the 4×400-meter relay. Dunkley, who’s run an indoor PR of 46.04 in the 400 meters this season, also earned All-America honors in the two-lap race with a fifth-place finish nationally in Birmingham last weekend.
Baptiste is a former NCAA Champion in the women’s 60-meter dash during her collegiate career with the Lady Tigers, and will compete in the event this weekend with a seasonal-best time of 7.20 to her credit for 2016 entering the meet. She is a former World Championships Bronze Medalist in the 100-meter dash in her career.
Mvumvure returns to the IAAF World Indoor Championships after advancing to the 60-meter semifinal in Sopot, Poland, two years ago where he set the Zimbabwe national record of 6.60 in the semifinal round.
Goule, the NCAA Indoor and NCAA Outdoor Champion in the 800 meters in her one season with the Lady Tigers in 2013, joins Dunkley as a member of Jamaica’s team competing in Portland this weekend. She owns an impressive indoor PR of 2 minutes, 1.64 seconds set last season, while also running a seasonal-best time of 2:04.21 in 2016 entering this year’s championship.
LSU’s athletes have won eight gold medals and three silver medals all-time at the IAAF World Indoor Championships as former Lady Tiger national champion Cassandra Tate was the last to do so as she was crowned an IAAF World Indoor Champion as a member of Team USA’s 4×400-meter relay in 2014. Tate was the World Championships Bronze Medalist in the 400-meter hurdles during the 2015 outdoor season.
Time Schedule for LSU Entries at the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships
Note: Times are Central and subject to change based on round-by-round qualifying.
Friday, March 18
1:45 p.m. – Men’s 400 Meters First Round (Fitzroy Dunkley, Vernon Norwood)
4:25 p.m. – Men’s 60 Meters First Round (Gabriel Mvumvure)
8:00 p.m. – Men’s 60 Meters Semifinals (Gabriel Mvumvure)
9:45 p.m. – Men’s 400 Meters Semifinals (Fitzroy Dunkley, Vernon Norwood)
10:40 p.m. – Men’s 60 Meters Final (Gabriel Mvumvure)
Saturday, March 19
1:15 p.m. – Women’s 800 Meters First Round (Natoya Goule)
1:40 p.m. – Women’s 60 Meters First Round (Kelly-Ann Baptiste)
2:40 p.m. – Men’s 4×400 Relay First Round (Fitzroy Dunkley, Vernon Norwood)
7:50 p.m. – Women’s 60 Meters Semifinals (Kelly-Ann Baptiste)
9:05 p.m. – Men’s 400 Meters Final (Fitzroy Dunkley, Vernon Norwood)
9:53 p.m. – Women’s 60 Meters Final (Kelly-Ann Baptiste)
Sunday, March 20
3:30 p.m. – Women’s 800 Meters Final (Natoya Goule)
4:50 p.m. – Men’s 4×400 Relay Final (Fitzroy Dunkley, Vernon Norwood)