Erick Walder (born November 5, 1971 in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...

) is an American former

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

er. He was a silver medalist at the

1997 World Championships in Athletics The 6th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Amateur Athletic Federation, were held at the Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece between August 1 and August 10, 1997. In this event participated 1882 athletes from 19 ...

and twice bronze medallist at the

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 ...

(1995, 1999). He also took two silver medals at the

Goodwill Games The Goodwill Games were an international sports competition created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s. In 1979, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused the United States and other ...

(1994, 1998). His personal best was 8.74 meters, achieved in April 1994 in

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. He ranked number one in the world on performance in the 1994 and 1996 seasons.

Collegiate career

Walder competed collegiately for the long jump/triple jump juggernaut

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

where he won 10

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

long jump and

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

titles, indoor and outdoor. He still holds the collegiate outdoor long jump record with a leap of . Walder was inducted into The University of Arkansas Hall of Fame in 2010. Walder claimed the NCAA outdoor and indoor long jumps and the indoor triple jump titles in 1992, 1993 and 1994, and added the outdoor triple jump win to sweep the 1994 NCAA meets: Walder finished 3rd in the triple jump at the 1993 NCAA Outdoor Championships.

International competitions

Rankings

Walder was ranked in the top ten long jumpers in the world by ''

Track and 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 runni ...

'' for eight consecutive years and as the best long jumper in the US three times.

Drug issues

In 2004, Walder tested positive for a legal medication that is banned by USATF. The sample was delivered on June 5, 2004 at the

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

Adidas Oregon Track Classic. He received an IAAF suspension from October 2004 to October 2006. Walder was reinstated in 2007. He competed professionally for two years before his retirement in 2010.

Personal life

In April 2014, Walder married Denise Chandler, a chiropractor. They reside with their son, EJ in Fayetteville. He has another son, Trenton Walder, who resides in Conway, Arkansas. They divorced in February 2018.

References

External External may refer to: * External (mathematics), a concept in abstract algebra * Externality In economics, an externality or external cost is an indirect cost or benefit to an uninvolved third party that arises as an effect of another party' ...
links

*
Erick Walder
at

USATF USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walder, Erick 1971 births Living people Sportspeople from Mobile, Alabama Track and field athletes from Alabama American male long jumpers Goodwill Games medalists in athletics World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States World Athletics Championships medalists Doping cases in athletics American sportspeople in doping cases University of Arkansas alumni Arkansas Razorbacks men's track and field athletes Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games Competitors at the 1994 Goodwill Games