Jonah Harris (born 16 January 1999) is a

Nauru Nauru, officially the Republic of Nauru, formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies within the Micronesia subregion of Oceania, with its nearest neighbour being Banaba (part of ...

an track and field athlete who specializes in the 100 metres and the 200 metres. Harris most notably represented Nauru at the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

in Gold Coast,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and was the first ever athlete representing Nauru at the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo. He currently holds the national records for Nauru in the

60 metres 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At indoor events, the 60 metres is run on lanes set out in the mi ...

indoor event, the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

and the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

and has one more national record still awaiting ratification from the Nauru Athletics Association (NAA).

2016–17

Prior to the

2017 Pacific Mini Games The 2017 Pacific Mini Games were held in Port Vila, Vanuatu, in December 2017. It was the tenth edition of the Pacific Mini Games, and the second to be hosted in Vanuatu (after 1993 South Pacific Mini Games, the 1993 games). Host selection Van ...

, the only competitions Harris had experience with was school meets in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

and only achieving a personal best time of 11.94 seconds. The

would act as his first international competition in which he would compete in the

event. The event featured the likes of

Nazmie-Lee Marai Nazmie-Lee Marai (born 2 December 1991) is a Papua New Guinean athlete. He competed in the men's 60 metres at the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 17th IAAF World Indoor Championships was held from 1 to 4 March 2018 in Birmingham, Un ...

from

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

and

Kelvin Masoe Kelvin Tuʻiala Masoe (born 4 March 1999 in Satuiatua) is a Samoan track and field sprinter who competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He attended school at Vaiola College on the island of Savaii in Samoa. Athletics career Masoe competed ...

from

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

. Harris was drafted in race three with Masoe during the heats phase coming fifth with a time of 11.12 seconds. Harris hadn't initially qualified, but the four best times of the losers advanced through to the next round, Harris was the second fastest loser so therefore qualified. The top eight from the semifinals qualified through for the finals, Harris finished fourth in heat 2, but with a time of 10.98 seconds, he didn't qualify for the finals. As a result, Harris achieved the highest ranking 100 m sprinter for

at the games, over his counterparts Joshua Jeremiah and Dysard Dageago, plus, he set a new personal best and national record. On the 17 June 2017, Harris also set a new personal best for his

Long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

while practicing in Gold Coast with a distance of 6.42 metres. Harris also set a new outdoor 60 metre personal best of 7.03 seconds.

2018

Harris' first event of the 2018 season was the

2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 17th IAAF World Indoor Championships was held from 1 to 4 March 2018 in Birmingham, United Kingdom. This was the city's second hosting of the event as it previously did so in 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships, 2003. Bidding process Birmin ...

in which he ran the

event. Harris ran in heat one, lane eight. Amidst the likes of

Christian Coleman Christian Coleman (born March 6, 1996) is an American professional track and field sprinter who competes in the 60 metres, 100 m and 200 m. The 2019 world champion in the 100 meters, he also won gold as part of men's 4 × 100-meter relay. He ...

, Harris managed to run the race in 7.03 seconds, a new national record for

and Harris. Despite this time, Harris was unable to advance through to the later rounds as a fastest loser. At the

, Harris represented

in the

100 m The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

and

200 m The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a Sprint (running), sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run th ...

. For the 100 metre event, Harris was drafted into heat three and raced on April 8. Harris was in lane seven and ran the race in 10.95 coming fifth, a new national record, but this time wasn't fast enough to qualify to the quarterfinals. In his 200-metre run, Harris was drafted into heat one, once again, Harris came fifth with a time of 21.96 seconds. This time beat out the

champion

who ran 0.18 seconds behind Harris in 22.14 seconds. This time was also a national record but once again, couldn't qualify Harris through to the later rounds of competition. At the

2018 IAAF World U20 Championships The 2018 World Athletics U20 Championships, World U20 Championships in Athletics, also known as the World Junior Championships, was an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors (born no earlier than 1 January 1999) ...

, Harris ran the

event. He was drafted into heat five and after running 11.11 seconds, ranked a respective 38th overall during the heats. This ranking wasn't enough to qualify him for the semifinals and ultimately, the finals. Harris' most recent international competition was the 2018 Micro Games in

Yap Yap (, sometimes written as , or ) traditionally refers to an island group located in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, a part of Yap State. The name "Yap" in recent years has come to also refer to the state within the Federate ...

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Poly ...

. The Nauru Athletics Association originally had a team of 55 competitors going to the games. However, three days prior to the competition starting, the NAA approached the organizers stating that the estimated cost of travelling to the games would be $300,000, too much for them to afford so they would have to withdraw from the competition. Harris was still competing in

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

at the U20 Championships when he heard the news. Harris had already booked his ticket so he would be the sole competitor for the Nauru team. Harris' first event was the 100 metres. He qualified through the heats with a time of 10.32 seconds running in heat one. In the finals, Harris' biggest challenger was Olympic athlete, Rodman Teltull from

Palau Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands ...

. In the end, Harris won the finals by .03 seconds over Teltull to take the gold medal. In the 200 metres, Harris would once again be facing Teltull. Harris ran the distance in 23.21 seconds finishing third after the heats, third behind Teltull and Chuuk's Scott Fiti but still advanced to the finals. In the finals, Harris this time beat Fiti who ran 22.76 seconds, but came second to Teltull who ran 21.88 seconds. Harris himself ran 22.22 seconds. Next for Harris was the long jump, as there was no qualifying round for the long jump, Harris went straight to the finals. He jumped 6.33 metres, beating the next closest athlete, Buraieta Yeeting of

Kiribati Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. Its permanent population is over 119,000 as of the 2020 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. The st ...

, by 0.25 metres. The high jump ran similarly to the long jump, and during the event five athletes were unable to make a jump height. The remaining four athletes, including Harris, battled for the medals. Harris finished second jumping 1.85 metres, a personal best. His height was six centimetres short of that of Lataisi Mwea. Harris' final event was the triple jump. Harris jumped 12.09 metres which was enough to gain Harris the bronze medal. This distance was 74 centimetres behind the first-place finisher Biira Burennaira. Harris walked away from the games with two golds, two silvers and two bronze medals.

2018 and 2019

He established 2 new national sprint records of Nauru: * 100 m: 10.82 (+0.5) in Apia (SAM) 16 JUL 2019 NR at the

2019 Pacific Games The 16th Pacific Games (), also known as Apia 2019, were held from 7 to 20 July 2019. The Games were held in Apia, Samoa, returning there for the first time since 2007. It was the third time overall that the Pacific Games were held in Samoa. The ...

* 200 m: 21.96 (−0.4) in Gold Coast (AUS) 10 APR 2018 NR at

2021

Harris will be the first ever Nauru athlete (

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

) participating to the 2020 Olympic Games, since first participation of Nauru in 1996.

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

secured for him an universality place for running the 100 m preliminary round.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Jonah 1999 births Living people Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Nauru Micronesian Games bronze medalists for Nauru Micronesian Games gold medalists for Nauru Micronesian Games medalists in athletics Micronesian Games silver medalists for Nauru Nauruan male sprinters People from Aiwo District Commonwealth Games competitors for Nauru