Mark Jelks

Mark Elliott Jelks (born April 10, 1984) is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 100-meter dash. He has a personal best of 9.99 seconds for the event and represented the United States at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics. In 2014, Jelks made a change in eligibility in order to represent Nigeria internationally. He represented his new country at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

He also competes in the 60-meter dash and won the national title at the 2009 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships with a personal record of 6.51 seconds.

Career Born in Gary, Indiana, he competed in track and field from a young age and while studying at Gary's West Side High School he became a four-time high school All-American. In 2005 he qualified for six events at the high school state championships, reaching all the sprint and relay events as well as the long jump. After high school he studied at Texas Christian University then Kansas City Kansas Community College, competing for the Kansas City Kansas Blue Devils track and field team. Rather than take part in further collegiate competition, he turned professional in 2005, signing up with Nike.

In his debut professional track season he improved his personal records across the board – he ran 6.63 seconds for the 60-meter dash, 10.02 for the 100 m, and 20.58 seconds for the 200-meter dash. Competing in national events for the first time, he placed fourth in the 60 m at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships and was fifth in the 100 m at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. He did not perform as well in 2006, with his season highlight being an appearance in the semi-finals of the 200 m. He placed fourth in that event at the USA Indoors and after that he ran a season's best of 10.04 seconds in the 100 m heats of the USA Outdoors, before going on to finish fourth.

At the 2008 United States Olympic Trials, he broke the 10-second barrier for the first time. He ran 9.99 seconds for third place in the quarter-finals (the fastest ever by a former Indiana high school athlete), However, he was slower in the semi-finals and was eliminated from the Olympic Trials. Turning to the outdoor season, he came first in the 100 m and 200 m at the Meeting Grand Prix IAAF de Dakar and was a semi-finalist at the USA Outdoors with a run of 10.06 seconds. At the Tsiklitiria meet in Athens, he was runner-up in the 100 m with a wind-assisted 9.99 seconds and set a personal best of 20.28 seconds to win the 200 m. He ran a season's best of 10.04 seconds for the 100 m a week later at the Vardinoyannia meet. As one of top 200 m performers that year, he was invited to the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final and came seventh.

Nigeria Mark Jelks switched his allegiance to Nigeria in 2014. He announced his arrival in June 2014 by winning the Nigerian national championships in the 100 metres. A month and a half later Jelks ran his first international competition in a Nigerian uniform, making the final in the 100 metes at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.