Walker advances at World Junior Championships

BARCELONA, Spain – BYU’s Shaquille Walker advanced to the 800 meter semifinals at the IAAF World Junior Championships on Friday. He will compete for a spot in the finals on Saturday at 8:15 p.m. local time in Barcelona (12:15 p.m. MT).

Walker posted a time of 1:49.55 to finish fourth in his heat. While he missed the automatic qualifying spot (the top three in each heat automatically advance), Walker’s time held up as the third and final time qualifier. Walker led the race at the bell (55.11), but was overtaken by eventual heat winner Nijel Amos of Botswana (1:48.31).

BYU signee Tanner Sork and the other U.S. representative in the 800 meters placed sixth in his heat with a time of 1:50.80. He finished second at the USA Junior Championships behind Walker.