Zach Ziemek is in the midst of a two-week journey of a lifetime, one that he embarked upon about two years ago.
Ziemek, a redshirt senior with the University of Wisconsin track and field team, is competing this week in the decathlon at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing.
Ziemek qualified for Team USA by placing third at the USA Outdoor Championships with a score of 8,107, surpassing the Olympic “A” standard and setting a Big Ten Conference record as he became just the second athlete in conference history to top 8,000 points in the event. He is one of five Americans to have met the Olympic standard.