Ronnie Baker (born October 15, 1993) is an American professional

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 eve ...

athlete specializing in the sprints. Over

60 meters 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At outdoor venues it is a rare distance, at least for senior ath ...

his personal best time of 6.40 seconds makes him the third-fastest man in the event in history. He was champion over 60 m at the USA Indoor Championships in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

, a medalist over 60 m at the World Indoor Championships in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

, and a gold medallist in the relay at the World Relays in

. Baker was a dominant competitor over 100 m in the Diamond League circuit in

, winning four races and placing no worse than second, including in the final where he also placed second. He was the fastest man in the world in 2017 over 60 m, and the second fastest in 2018 over both 60 m and 100 m. In college he competed for the

TCU Horned Frogs The TCU Horned Frogs are the athletic teams that represent Texas Christian University. The 18 varsity teams participate in NCAA Division I and in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for football, competing mostly in the Big 12 Conference. The sc ...

, where he was champion over 60 m at the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships in both 2015 and

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Ronnie Baker ran the personal best of 9.83 in the men's 100m semi-finals, which made him the 6th fastest man in the history of Olympics 100m event.

Early life

When Baker first started with school he ran cross country. Once in middle school he switched to running the 400 meters, and stuck with that through high school, competing in both track and basketball at Ballard High School in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. Baker looked up to and was influenced by Michael Johnson,

Tyson Gay Tyson Gay (born August 9, 1982) is an American track and field sprinter who competes in the 100 and 200 meters. His 100 m personal best of 9.69 seconds is the American record and makes him tied for the second fastest athlete over 100 m ...

, and

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt, , (; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay. An eight-ti ...

during his running career.

Track career

Baker ran for the

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciple ...

(TCU) track team, switching from the 400 meters to the shorter sprint events. During his time there he was twice

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 ...

(United States collegiate) champion in the 60 m event in 2015 and 2016. In 2017, Baker became national indoor champion over 60 m. A month later at the World Relays he earned his first gold medal at a global championship in the 4 × 100 m relay. In 2018, Baker won third in the World Indoor Championships. He set his 100 m then-personal best (9.87, wind −0.1 m/s) on August 22, 2018 at the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial in Chorzów. In his first 100 m race of 2021 at the

Texas Relays The Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays are an annual track and field competition held at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas. The University of Texas serves as host for the event, held on either the first or second weekend of April. Events are he ...

on March 27, Baker won in a world leading 9.94 s and also broke the 1992 meet record of 9.97 s set by

Olapade Adeniken Olapade Charles Adeniken (born 19 August 1969 in Osogbo) is a retired Nigerian sprinter who specialized in the 100 and 200 metres, and is the father of Michael Adeniken. He won the silver medal in 4 x 100 m relay at the 1992 Olympic ...

. He qualified for the Tokyo Olympics by running, at the time, a personal best of 9.85 in the 100m, while finishing 2nd at the 2020 US Olympic Trials. Baker's Tokyo Olympic semifinal personal best time of 9.83 makes him the 6th fastest man and ties him for the 9th fastest time in Olympic 100m history; it also qualifies him as the third-fastest American in Olympic 100m history.

Accolades and awards

While in high school, Baker was named in 2011 and 2012 the Gatorade state boys track and field athlete of the year. He received enough powdered Gatorade that he and his mother were able to stock Ballard High with the product for a time.

Personal life

A native of

, Baker attended Ballard High School. He also lived in Anchorage, Alaska for seven years in his youth. Baker is a distant relative of

. He married the former Mikaela Harrison on March 7, 2020, in Fort Worth, Texas.

Statistics

Information from

World Athletics 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 fo ...

profile unless otherwise noted.

Personal bests

International championship results

Circuit wins

* Diamond League (100 m) ** Eugene:

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** Stockholm:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

* World Athletics Indoor Tour (60 m) **Overall winner:

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

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: 2017 **

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

: 2017 **Glasgow: 2020 **

Liévin Liévin (; pcd, Lévin; ) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The inhabitants are called ''Liévinois''. Overview The town of Liévin is an old mining area of Pas-de-Calais. Near Lens, this town is of modest size bu ...

: 2020 **

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: 2020

National championship results

*NCAA results from Track & Field Results Reporting System.

Seasonal bests

References

External links

Ronnie Baker's profile at Performance Kitchen Crafted
* *
Ronnie Baker
bio at

Videos

Ronnie Baker wins the Prefontaine Classic men's 100 meters in a wind-assisted 9.78 seconds
via

IAAF Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

Tokyo 100m final preview? Baker, Simbine, Bromell, battle to wire in Monaco
via

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Ronnie (athlete) 1993 births Living people African-American male track and field athletes American male sprinters Ballard High School (Louisville, Kentucky) alumni Sportspeople from Louisville, Kentucky Track and field athletes from Kentucky Sportspeople from Anchorage, Alaska Track and field athletes from Alaska TCU Horned Frogs men's track and field athletes World Athletics Indoor Championships medalists USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners Competitors at the 2015 Summer Universiade Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic track and field athletes of the United States Olympic male sprinters 21st-century African-American sportspeople