Does the best athlete in the country reside at Michigan State?

Who is the best athlete in the country? That’s a question that is impossible to answer, but there are a lot of ways to figure out who that person may be.

In the track and field world, there is one person who is regularly viewed as the all-around best athlete. The winner of the decathlon.

The decathlon is a 10-event contest consisting of various track and field events from sprints, the mile, the long jump, the pole vault, and the javelin. To win the decathlon, you have to be elite at all 10 events, something that isn’t easy to do.

During US Olympic qualifications, one current Michigan State Spartan was competing in this event, looking to qualify for the Paris Olympics later this summer. That Spartan is Heath Baldwin.

Not only did Baldwin qualify for the Olympics, he took home the gold medal by finishing in first place.

Baldwin finished with 8,624 points, which is the third most points ever from a college athlete. Baldwin beat out many other great athletes, but to put it in perspective just how impressive this is, the third-place finisher won the NCAA National Championship in 2023, and the second-place finisher is making his third appearance at the Olympics in this event.

It’s now been a week removed from Baldwin’s gold medal performance at the Olympic trials, and that feeling of winning and qualifying for the Olympics still hasn’t quite set in.

The Olympics begin July 26 with the Decathlon taking place from Aug. 2-3. There have been a few Spartans who have competed and won medals at the Olympics in the past, and Baldwin now has a chance to join them this summer.

Baldwin very well might be the best athlete in the United States, and now he has a chance to prove he’s the best athlete in the world. Now that’s something I would love to be able to say about a Michigan State Spartan.