PARIS (WOOD) — After competing in Paris — his first Olympic Games — decathlete Heath Baldwin has already set his sights on the 2028 Games.
The two-day competition kicked off Friday. On Saturday, the Kalamazoo native finished 10th overall.
“I feel like I had a pretty decent day two,” Baldwin said. “I feel like I executed better than day one, at least.”
Kalamazoo’s decathlete gets hometown send-off to Olympics
He told News 8 Sports Director Jack Doles that it took a while to settle in.
“In the U.S., you just don’t get environments like this for track and field. So it took me a little bit to learn how to manage my adrenaline out here, just because it’s on a whole different level,” Baldwin said. “But once I figured that out, I feel like I was putting myself in good positions to compete and doing as well as I could have under the circumstances.”
He said the Paris Games were a great learning experience.
“I feel like I learned a lot about myself as a competitor and what I need to be doing next time I have a meet like this,” Baldwin said. “So I’ll feel a lot more confident going into it next time.”