Barbara Nwaba of Santa Barbara Track Club is in Bejing for the IAAF World Championships. (Presidio Sports Photo)
Among the world’s best athletes competing at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China this week will be Santa Barbara Track Club’s Barbara Nwaba.
The USA heptathlon champion is seeded No. 5 in the world going into the two-day event this weekend.
Nwaba, 26, qualified for worlds by winning at the U.S.A. Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon in June. It was the first time that a UC Santa Barbara alum won a USA Track & Field title. Nwaba graduated from UCSB in 2012 and still holds the Big West Conference heptathlon record. Her current PR of 6,500 points, set in Eugene, is the sixth-best score in American history. She’s entering the IAAF World Championships with the fifth-best mark in the world this year.
Americans Sharon-Day Monroe, Erica Bougard and Heather Miller-Koch join Nwaba in a field of 37 drawing from 25 countries.
Seeded above Nwaba are No. 1 Brianne Theisen-Eaton of Canada (6,807 pts), No. 2 Carolin Schafer of Germany (6,547), No. 3 Nadine Broersen of Holland (6,531), and No. 4 Jessica Ennis-Hill of Great Britain (6,520).
Heptathlon Event by Event Schedule (All-Times Listed PST)
DAY 1
100m Hurdles – Friday at 6:00pm PST, Universal Sports
High Jump – Friday at 7:20pm PST, Universal Sports
Shot Put – Saturday at 3:30am PST, NBC (Noon, tape delayed) / Universal Sports (4PM, tape delayed)
200m – Saturday at 5:15am PST, NBC (Noon, tape delayed) / Universal Sports (4PM, tape delayed)DAY 2
Long Jump – Saturday at 6:00pm PST, Universal Sports
Javelin Throw – Saturday at 7:50pm / 9:05pm PST, Universal Sports
800m – Sunday at 4:40am PST, NBC (10am, tape delayed) / Universal Sports (4PM, tape delayed)
