Chari Hawkins, the former Utah State All-American, finished eighth in the heptathlon at the world track and field championships Sunday in Budapest.
Hawkins was in third place after five events, but slipped to fifth after the shot put and eighth after the 800-meter run, in which she finished 18th out of 18 starters with a time of 2:22.53 — seven seconds slower than her personal record.
Notwithstanding, the 32-year-old Hawkins finished with a personal-best score of 6,366 points, more than 100 points better than her previous best.
Hawkins has improved dramatically since she began working with Craig Poole, the former long-time BYU head track and field coach. In Budapest, she set personal records in the 100 hurdles, javelin and shot put, and earlier this year she set a personal record in the 200-meter dash.
The winner of the heptathlon was Great Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson, with 6,740 points, beating runner-up Anna Hall of the U.S. by just 20 points. The Netherlands’ Anouk Vetter was third with 6,501 points.
Utah-connected athletes will not compete in Budapest again until Tuesday, when BYU’s Kenneth Rooks toes the line for the finals of the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
He advanced to the final Saturday by tying Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco for first place in the second heat.
Zach McWhorter, a former BYU athlete, will compete in the qualifying round of the pole vault on Wednesday.