Courtney Hawkins (born July 11, 1967) is an American former

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete who competed in the

sprint hurdles Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...

. He was a medallist at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

and

IAAF World Indoor Championships The World Athletics Indoor Championships are a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the World Athletics, the competition was inaugurated as the ''World Indoor G ...

in 1995. He holds personal bests of 13.17 seconds for the 110-meter hurdles and 7.41 seconds for the

60-meter hurdles 60 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling which is generally run in indoor competitions. It is equivalent with the first 5 hurdles of a standard outdoor hurdle race. The current women's and men's world records are 7.68 seconds ( Susanna K ...

. He won one national title in his career, taking the 60 m event at the

USA Indoor Track and Field Championships The USA Indoor Track and Field Championships is an annual indoor track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. In years which feature a World Indoor Championships in ...

in 1996.

Career

Born in

West Palm Beach West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, he attended John I. Leonard Community High School in Lake Worth, graduating in 1985. He did not compete in sports at a young age due to a

heart murmur Heart murmurs are unique heart sounds produced when blood flows across a heart valve or blood vessel. This occurs when turbulent blood flow creates a sound loud enough to hear with a stethoscope. Turbulent blood flow is not smooth. The sound di ...

, but had begun to take part in the

hurdles Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...

towards the end of high school. He studied at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

and competed collegiately for the

Kansas Jayhawks The Kansas Jayhawks, commonly referred to as simply KU or Kansas, are the athletic teams that represent the University of Kansas. KU is one of three schools in the state of Kansas that participate in NCAA Division I. The Jayhawks are also a mem ...

team, including an appearance at the NCAA Championships in 1987. He began to make an impact on the sport after college, hurdling professionally from 1989 onwards. That year he set a best of 13.41 seconds for the 110-meter hurdles and placed third at both the

USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships is an annual track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. Since the year 1992, in the years which feature a Summer Olym ...

and the U.S. Olympic Festival.Courtney Hawkins Biography
USATF. Retrieved on 2015-06-17. Hawkins was a finalist at the 1990 USA Championships, but finished outside the top three. Reflecting the strength of national competition, he ranked ninth in the world on time that year with his new personal record of 13.28 seconds. He retained that ranking the following year, and improved to fourth at the national championships. Hawkins consistently remained in the top ten of his event from 1990 to 1995.Courtney Hawkins
Brinkster Track and Field. Retrieved on 2015-06-17. He achieved a new high on the global rankings in the

in 1992 with a time of 7.47 seconds, placing him third behind only

Colin Jackson Colin Ray Jackson, (born 18 February 1967) is a Welsh former sprint and hurdling athlete who specialised in the 110 metres hurdles. During a career in which he represented Great Britain and Wales, he won an Olympic silver medal, became wor ...

and

Mark McKoy Mark Anthony McKoy (born December 10, 1961) is a Canadian retired track and field athlete. He won the gold medal in the 110 metres hurdles at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He also won the 60 metres hurdles title at the 1993 IAAF World Indoor Cha ...

.World Top Performers 1980-2006: Men (Indoor)
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-06-17. He did not qualify for the Olympics that year, dropped out at the quarterfinals of the United States Olympic Trials. He moved up the outdoor rankings in 1993, placing seventh in the ''

Track & Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, ...

'' lists with a time of 13.25 seconds. Having been a prominent competitor on the circuit he entered the 1994 IAAF Grand Prix Final and placed third.Courtney Hawkins Honours
IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-06-18. Hawkins had a career high in the 1995 season. He claimed a 60 m hurdles silver medal on his international debut at the

1995 IAAF World Indoor Championships File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, forming an American 1–2 with winner Allen Johnson. Hawkins ran a personal record of 7.41 seconds to take the medal. He again ranked third globally in the event (behind Johnson and Jackson) and the time had moved him to fourth in the all-time American rankings, after Greg Foster,

Roger Kingdom Roger Kingdom (born August 26, 1962) is a former sprint hurdler, athletics coach, and strength and conditioning coach from the United States. He is currently the speed and conditioning coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL. Early l ...

, and Johnson. As of 2015 he remains in the top-20 all-time for the discipline. An outdoor medal followed at the

1995 Pan American Games File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" is a s ...

, Argentina, as he took bronze in a time of 13.54 seconds, finishing behind the higher profile athlete Kingdom and

Emilio Valle Emilio Valle (born 21 April 1967, in Sancti Spíritus) is a Cuban retired hurdler. His personal best time was 13.18 seconds, achieved in the semi-final at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. The result places him third among Cuban 110 m hurdlers, ...

of Cuba. At the Athletissima meet in

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

he set a personal record time of 13.22 seconds. In spite of these successes, he was outside the top three at the national championships both indoors and out, and closed his season injured at the 1995 IAAF Grand Prix Final (ending seventh). His highest national honour came at the 1996

, where he succeeded Allen Johnson to the 60 m hurdles title with a run of 7.46 seconds.Men's 60 m Hurdles National Champions
USATF. Retrieved on 2015-06-18. This placed him at the top of the yearly rankings for the event that year. This did not translate into success outdoors, however, as he failed to make the final at the Olympic trials and his season's best time of 13.33 left him out of the global top ten for the first time in six years. He moved back inside the top ten in the 1997 and 1998 seasons, including a lifetime best of 13.17 seconds in

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Bav ...

in 1998, but a sixth place at the 1997 USA Outdoor Championships was his best performance on the national circuit. He was last at the

1997 IAAF Grand Prix Final The 1997 IAAF Grand Prix Final was the thirteenth edition of the season-ending competition for the IAAF Grand Prix track and field circuit, organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations. It was held on 13 September at the Hak ...

. He retired from

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

at the end of the 1999 season.

Personal records

* 110-meter hurdles – 13.17 (1998) * 50-meter hurdles indoors – 6.46 (1999) *

indoors – 7.41 (1995)

National titles

**60 m hurdles: 1996

International competitions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkins, Courtney Living people 1967 births Sportspeople from West Palm Beach, Florida American male hurdlers Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1995 Pan American Games Kansas Jayhawks men's track and field athletes Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games