Kansas City native and Park Hill High School alum Chris Nilsen seeks his 5th global championship medal and his first world title this afternoon in Glasgow, Scotland at the World Indoor Championships.
Nilsen cleared a season's best 6 meters/19-8.25 at the USA Track and Field Indoor Championships two weeks ago in Albuquerque, New Mexico to win the national title and 1 of 2 berths at the 3-day World Athletics Indoor Championships which conclude today in the United Kingdom.
That mark tied Lee's Summit native KC Lightfoot's world-leading season mark that hasn't been recognized by the international governing body, World Athletics. World Record holder Armand "Mondo" Duplantis moved past the pair two weeks ago, with a 6.02m/19-9 vault to
Nilsen, who broke the national high school record in the pole vault with his 19-4.75 clearance at Sectionals his senior year in 2016, has earned global championship medals with the 2021 Olympic Games silver medal, the 2022 world indoor bronze medal, the 2022 world outdoor silver, and tied for the 2023 world outdoor bronze medal.
Nilsen and a field of 10 others will compete for the world title at 1:00 p.m. CT on CNBC and Peacock.
Live results, including the pole vault, can be seen with a free account login at the World Athletics meet live website.
Duplantis of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, competes for his mother's native country of Sweden, as he has dual citizenship of Sweden and the United States. Duplantis not winning would be big news as he owns 4 global championships and has broken the world record seven times.
The other Team USA member competing is Mississippi's Sam Kendricks, who is a 2-time World Champion and 5x global medalist. He sits 3rd on the official indoor season performance, with a season-best of 5.95m/19-6.25.
