Mark Jelks
 Jelks at the 2010 Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix | ||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality |  United States Nigeria | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | 10 April 1984 | |||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||||||||
| Event | Sprint | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| Updated on 26 August 2016. | ||||||||||||||||||
Mark Elliott Jelks (born April 10, 1984) is an American
100-meter dash. He has a personal best of 9.99 seconds for the event and represented the United States at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics. In 2014, Jelks made a change in eligibility in order to represent Nigeria internationally. He represented his new country at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
.
He also competes in the
60-meter dash and won the national title at the 2009 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships
with a personal record of 6.51 seconds.
Career
Born in
Nike.[1]
In his debut professional track season he improved his personal records across the board – he ran 6.63 seconds for the
Boston Indoor Games in a personal record of 6.60 seconds for the 60 m.[2] He placed fourth in that event at the USA Indoors and after that he ran a season's best of 10.04 seconds in the 100 m heats of the USA Outdoors, before going on to finish fourth.[1] The second and third-place finishers, collegiate sprinters Trindon Holliday and Walter Dix, passed up the chance to run at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics and Jelks got the opportunity to compete instead. In his first international appearance, he ended up injured in his first heat in Osaka and came last.[3]
At the 2008
Tsiklitiria meet in Athens, he was runner-up in the 100 m with a wind-assisted 9.99 seconds and set a personal best of 20.28 seconds to win the 200 m.[6] He ran a season's best of 10.04 seconds for the 100 m a week later at the Vardinoyannia meet. As one of top 200 m performers that year, he was invited to the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final and came seventh.[3]
He began the 2010 indoor season in good form, winning the 60 m in
doping violation in April. He had failed to notify the United States Anti-Doping Agency of his location on three separate occasions within an 18-month period and in line with World Anti-Doping Agency rules he received a two-year suspension, lasting from August 2010 to 2012.[7][8]
Nigeria
Mark Jelks switched his allegiance to Nigeria in 2014.[9] He announced his arrival in June 2014 by winning the Nigerian national championships in the 100 metres. A month and a half later Jelks ran his first international competition in a Nigerian uniform, making the final in the 100 metes at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.[10]
References
- ^ USATF. Retrieved on 2012-05-28.
- USATF(2007-01-27). Retrieved on 2012-05-28.
- ^ IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-05-28.
- ^ 2008 Olympic Trials Men's 100m Quarterfinals. USATF. Retrieved on 2012-05-28.
- ^ 60 metres 2009. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-05-28.
- IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-05-28.
- ^ Hamnik, Al (2010-08-31). USADA slaps Gary sprinter Mark Jelks with two-year suspension. NWI Times. Retrieved on 2012-05-28.
- ^ Mark Jelks suspended two years. ESPN/AP (2010). Retrieved on 2012-05-28.
- ^ "Home - Nigeria Village Square".
- ^ "Nigeria's fastest man, Mark Jelks, aiming to become Africa's fastest man!". 7 August 2014.
