Joe Kovacs and Talitha Diggs are world class track and field athletes.
The two Lehigh Valley natives will get to prove that again this weekend at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
The 34-year-old Kovacs is a two-time shot put world champion and two-time runner-up, a two-time Olympic silver medalist, a District 11 record holder and PIAA gold medalist while at Bethlehem Catholic. The Penn State graduate is competing in Saturday morning’s qualifying round followed by the finals that night.
Kovacs qualified fourth at the U.S. Track & Field Championships earlier this summer in Eugene, Oregon, with a top throw of 71 feet, 10.25 inches. He is coached by his wife, Ashley, after being tutored by his mother while growing up.
Diggs finished third in the 400-meter dash in a personal-best time of 49.93 seconds in June to qualify for the second year in a row. The 20-year-old junior at the University of Florida ran times of 51.31 and 50.95 in the first two rounds. She’ll be competing in Sunday’s first round of the open 400. The semifinals are Monday and the final is Aug. 23.
The daughter of four-time 800-meter Olympian Joetta Clark Diggs also may compete on the 1,600-meter relay team. That event is Aug. 26-27.
The two-time PIAA record holder and five-time state gold medalist while at Saucon Valley also was a U.S. champion and NCAA indoor and outdoor champion in 2022 in the 400. She was fifth this spring in the 400 and seventh in the 200 at the NCAA championships for Florida.
Diggs was named the NCAA Division I Women’s Track and Field/Cross Country Academic All-American of the Year by the College Sports Communicators. She has a 3.67 GPA as a double major in political science and international studies with a concentration in Asia.
Morning Call reporter Tom Housenick can be reached at 610-820-6651 or at thousenick@mcall.com
