Omar Craddock (born April 26, 1991) is an American track and field athlete who competes in the triple jump. With the University of Florida he won one indoor and two outdoor NCAA titles in the event. He competed alongside Christian Taylor and

Will Claye Will Claye (born June 13, 1991) is an American track and field athlete of Sierra Leonean descent who competes in the long jump and triple jump. He won a bronze medal in 2011 World Championships in Athletics and the gold medals at the 2012 IAAF Wo ...

in a succession of elite level triple jumpers to come from the Florida Gators track and field team. He was the bronze medalist at the

2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition for athletes under the age of 20 which was held at the Moncton Stadium in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada from 19 to 25 July 2010. A total of 44 athletics ...

. In 2013 he won the national triple jump title at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. His personal best for the triple jump is 17.68 m (58 ft .06 in).

Career

Early life

Raised in

Killeen, Texas Killeen is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. According to the 2020 census, its population was 153,095, making it the 19th-most populous city in Texas and the largest of the three principal cities of Bell County. It is the principal city ...

, he attended Killeen High School and enjoyed basketball, American football and baseball. He began to achieve good marks in the triple jump in 2008 – his best that year was 15.53 m, which brought him second at the AAU Junior Olympic Games. He was also the state champion in the event in 2008.Omar Craddock
. GatorZone. Retrieved on June 22, 2013.

College athletics

He gained an athletics scholarship at the University of Florida and began to compete collegiately for the Florida Gators track and field team. In his first year there he quickly established himself as one of the school's best ever jumpers. He jumped (his first over sixteen metres) to take third at the Southeastern Conference indoor championship and placed seventh at the NCAA Indoor Championship. He was runner-up at the

Florida Relays Florida is a U.S. state, state located in the Southeastern United States, 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 (U.S. state), Geo ...

, won at the Penn Relays. A second-place finish at the 2010 SEC Outdoor Championship helped the Florida Gators to their first team title in over twenty years. A sixth-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championship gave Craddock his second All-American honour for the year. He ended the season with his first international medal: after a personal best of to win the national junior title he took bronze at the

. The 2011 collegiate season began with school-best performances : at the SEC Indoor Championships the Florida Gators swept the men's triple jump through Christian Taylor,

and Craddock. The three produced the best jump's in the school's history and Craddock was third with a best of . He came fifth at the NCAA Indoors and won his first outdoor meet at the Penn Relays, but missed the rest of the outdoor season. In his third year with the Gators he reached new highs as his teammates Taylor and Claye finished their studies. He won both the SEC Indoor and NCAA Indoor Championship titles, setting a new personal record of at the latter event. An outdoor best of followed and he secured both the SEC and NCAA Outdoor titles too – following in the footsteps of Taylor's 2010 feat. He placed fourth at the 2012 Olympic Trials, where his former Gator teammates took the top spots. In his fourth and final year at Florida, Craddock found strong competition indoors. At the SEC Indoors he jumped but was narrowly beaten by

Tarik Batchelor Tariq ( ar, طارق) is an Arabic word and given name. Etymology The word is derived from the Arabic verb , ('), meaning "to strike", and into the agentive conjugated doer form , ('), meaning "striker". It became popular as a name after Tariq ...

. He cleared a new best of at the NCAA Indoors, but was again runner-up as

Bryce Lamb Bryce may refer to: People *Bryce (given name) *Bryce (surname) Places *Bryce Canyon National Park *Mount Bryce *Bryce, Utah *Bryce, Arizona Other *Bryce (software) *Bryce Hospital See also *Brice (disambiguation) Bricius most often refers to Br ...

jumped almost seventeen metres. In the outdoor season Craddock began an undefeated streak, starting at the Texas Relays. He retained his SEC and the NCAA triple jump titles and improved his best to . He got the better of Will Claye at the

2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The 2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships was held at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa. Organised by USA Track and Field, the four-day competition took place June 20–23 in conjunction with the USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Champions ...

to win his first national title in a wind-assisted .Rupp wins fifth consecutive US 10,000m title
IAAF (June 21, 2013). Retrieved on 2013-06-22.

Personal bests

* Triple jump (outdoor): (2019) * Triple jump (outdoor): (2015) * Triple jump (outdoor): (2013) * Triple jump (outdoor): w (2014) * Triple jump (indoor): (2013) * Long jump (indoor): (2013)

National titles

*NCAA Indoor titles: 2012 *NCAA Outdoor titles: 2012, 2013 *USA Outdoor titles: 2013, 2015

International competitions

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Craddock, Omar Living people 1991 births Sportspeople from Killeen, Texas Track and field athletes from Texas American male triple jumpers African-American track and field athletes American male track and field athletes World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States Florida Gators men's track and field athletes USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners Athletes (track and field) at the 2019 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field) 21st-century African-American sportspeople NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships winners