CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Director of track, field and cross country Petros Kyprianou is heading to the World Indoor Championships in Kujawy Pomorze, Poland where he will coach Illinois alum Abria Smith in the shot put and current assistant coach Heath Baldwin in the heptathlon. Assistant coach J.C. Lambert will be making thr trip as well where he will coach Smith in the shot put. The championships are on Friday-Saturday (March 20-21).
Smith spent one year at Illinois where she was a two-time All-American and the Big Ten Champion outdoors. She was the 2025 national runner-up outdoors and she owns both the indoor and outdoor program records at 17.99m (59-0 1/4) and 18.92m (62-1), respectfully. She since has increased her personal best to an impressive 19.23m (63-1 1/4) at the USATF Indoor Championships a few weeks ago to qualify her for the World Championships.
Baldwin started as an assistant coach at Illinois last season where he's also training under Kyprianou. He set a new personal best heptathlon score of 6,245 points on Feb. 22 in his second-place finish at the USATF Indoor Combined Events Championships to qualify to the World Championships.
