Saalfeld wins two silver medals at Deaflympics
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Emporia residents helped Craig Saalfeld raise the funds last spring to go to the 21st Summer Deaflympics Games. Saalfeld made the most of his opportunity this past weekend, picking up a pair of silver medals in Taipei, Taiwan.
Saalfeld finished second in the decathlon and was on the 1,600-meter relay team that finished second. He also placed fifth in the high jump. He competed in the finals of the high jump and 1,600-meter relays on Saturday, the same day as the final five events of the decathlon.
Saalfeld placed third in the 100 meters, long jump and shot put, before winning the final two events of the day, the high jump and 400 meters to take a six-point lead in the overall standings after Friday's first day of action.
He increased his lead to 126 points following a win in the 110-meter hurdles, the first event of Day Two. He placed sixth in the discus and fifth in the pole vault to maintain his lead over Russian Viktorovich Tsybizov going into the ninth event, the javelin.
Saalfeld placed sixth in the javelin and Tsybizov won the event to take a 171-point lead into the final event, the 1,500 meters. Saalfeld ran a personal best 4:37.13 to place second and beat Tsybizov by just over eight seconds, but it was not enough to overtake the Russian in the overall standings.
The ESU senior ended with 6,321 points and had personal bests in the 1,500 meter, pole vault, shot put and javelin.
Also on Saturday, Saalfeld teamed with Delvin Furlough, Josh Hembrough and his brother Michael Saalfeld to qualify for the finals of the 1,600-meter relay in between the 110-meter hurdles and discus throw of the decathlon.
He then placed fifth in the high jump with a mark of 1.99 meters while competing in the decathlon javelin and right before the decathlon 1,500 meters.
The United States would pick up a silver in the 1,600-meter relay behind Ukraine in Sunday’s finals.
Saalfeld is set to return to Emporia State for his senior year of eligibility in outdoor track and field in 2010. He redshirted the 2009 outdoor season because of a hamstring injury.
The Deaflympics requires its participating athletes to have a hearing loss in their better ear of more than 55 decibels. The Deaflympics is an international events recognized by International Olympic Committee and the term Deaflympics is authorized by IOC.