Champ’s Home! Robinson Returns to Tempe with Gold Medals

TEMPE – Below is a super short and casual Q&A with Justin Robinson the morning of Tuesday, August 29 in the Sun Devil Track and Field coaches offices. Robinson is ASU’s third ever athlete to earn a medal at the World Championships following Ryan Whiting (2013, silver) and four-time gold medalist Dwight Phillips (2003, 2005, 2009, 2011). Robinson is a two-time world champion following a pair of phenomenal performances at the World Athletics World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. On the final day of competition, Robinson ran the third leg of the men’s 4×400 for Team USA where he split 44.74 to help the men to a world leading 2:57.31 first-place finish. This win came after Robinson helped the 4×400 mixed relay to a world record (3:08.80) a week earlier. Full World Championships Results. Team USA collected 29 total medals in Budapest.

Robinson wasn’t the only Sun Devil in Budapest. Chris Benard ’13 (USA), Maggie Ewen ’18 (USA), Beatrice Llano ’22 (Norway), Dubem Nwachukwu ’23 (Nigeria), Jorinde van Klinken G ’22 (Netherlands), and Turner Washington ’20, G’ 23 (USA) also competed.

Benard: Triple jump, 9th overall (16.62m)

Ewen: Shot put, 6th overall (19.51m)

Llano: Hammer throw, 21st overall (69.11m)

Nwachukwu: 400m, 31st overall (45.60)

van Klinken: Shot put, 9th overall (19.05m)

van Klinken: Discus, 4th overall (67.20m)

Washington: Discus, 14th in second group qualifying (63.57m)

 

Champ is home ??????@Justin_Malik2 pic.twitter.com/jD93oib1yB

— Sun Devil Track and Field/XC (@SunDevilTFXC) August 29, 2023

 
On the World Championships experience
“Man it still hasn’t sank in, it feels unreal. Just going over and seeing all the love that track and field gets was amazing by itself. Being on the stage and accomplishing what we did as a team on the relays was amazing. Being a part of a world record team was always a dream of mine and I’m just happy to have been able to accomplish it this early in my career while continuing to grow my career.”
 
On what he was thinking about hours after that world record race specifically
“It really didn’t sink in until later that day when we were back at the hotel and the teammates were all congratulating us – especially the big names like Fred Kerley, Noah Lyles and other people saying ‘Good job’ and things of that sort. That’s when it all really kicked in – during the…