Iowa 6-time All-American Austin West pursues Olympic dream in decathlon

Growing up, Austin West always wanted to represent the University of Iowa.

As a young teen, the former Iowa City West multisport standout suspected it might be in football. Later, it appeared baseball might be his future.

Ultimately, West found his calling on the Hawkeyes’ track and field team, where he exhausted his eligibility earlier this month as a six-time All-American in the decathlon and heptathlon.

After bowing out of the NCAA championships due to an undisclosed precautionary health issue June 5, West has one last chance to don the Iowa black and gold … in pursuit of a spot on the United States Olympic Team.

“It’s my last meet in an Iowa uniform,” said West, who will compete in the decathlon at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials beginning Friday in Eugene, Ore. “Going out at my last nationals, not being able to finish and just be around those guys that I’ve competed against for years, that kind of sucked. So, hopefully we don't have to repeat that this time.

“I just have a little chip on my shoulder to kind of right that ship a little bit and I'm really excited to see what this weekend holds.”

The decathlon is a competition comprised of 10 track and field events (100 meters, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400 meters, 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500 meters). The U.S. Olympic Trials run through June 30 and the top three finishers will earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team.

The 2024 Summer Olympics begin July 26 in Paris.

“I feel really good now,” said West, 24. “We’ll see. We have a plan for how we're going to manage that. We have a really good support staff. Our trainers and our team docs and nutritionists and everything have made me feel really well prepared for this meet, so I'm really excited to do my last meet in an Iowa uniform and try to put one together.”

As a prep, West won 2018 state titles in the 400 dash and the 400 hurdles for the Trojans. At Iowa, he was a first team All-American in the heptathlon (2024 indoors) and decathlon (2022, 2023) and was the 2023 Big Ten champion in the 400 hurdles.

West never dreamed of making the Olympics, but when he scored 8,179 points and earned second place in the decathlon at the 2022 Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif., it gave him pause to consider the possibility.

“I thought I had a legitimate chance of making a team,” West said. “That was the first time where it was like, ‘OK, we're starting to score pretty high.’ … That just kind of showed me. Every year, I feel like I achieved something that I didn't quite think I was going to and that was kind of the one where it was a big breakthrough and I thought, ‘OK, I might be able to be OK at this thing.’”

West is one of 34 athletes with Iowa ties who will compete in the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials. There will even be some Iowa flavor in the public-address booth, as Tiffin’s Mike Jay — the “Voice of the Drake Relays” — will perform on-site PA duties at the Trials for the fourth time.

“I think we’ll have a number of finalists,” Jay said. “But it is going to be hard to get any Iowans through (to the Olympic Team). But just qualifying for the Olympic Trials is huge, too.”

In addition to West, other former Gazette-area preps slated to compete include Cam Jones (Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Iowa State) in the shot put and Alexina Teubel (Mount Vernon-Lisbon, Northern Iowa) in the 1,500.

The field of in-state competitors is highlighted by a quartet of former Olympians in Kenny Bednarek of Indian Hills Community College (2021) in the 100 and 200, West Des Moines Dowling graduate Karissa Schweizer (2021) in the 5,000 and 10,000, former Iowa State athlete Hillary Bor (2016) in the 3,000 steeplechase and two-time qualifier (2008, 2012) Lolo Jones of Des Moines Roosevelt (100 hurdles).

A pair of former Hawkeyes — Laulauga Tausaga-Collins (discus) and Brittany Brown (100, 200) — also are strong contenders.

At this point, the only remaining groundwork to be laid by the athletes is largely mental.

“I like to think of preparation as three things,” West said. “So you have physical, mental and technical. The physical prep at this point is pretty much done. We're just going to get the body ready to roll and the technical components are done. I don't really do event work a couple of days before, so all it is just mental prep.

“I've nothing to lose and I think I have a chance to make the team, so I'm just going in there, having some fun and trying to do some damage.”