Track and field star Andre Korbmacher hasn’t stopped collecting accolades since graduating from Squalicum in 2023.
He captured a silver medal at the 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima, Peru on Aug. 30. The Storm grad finished the 110-meter hurdles in 13.14 seconds, just behind Ja’kobe Tharp’s winning time of 13.05 seconds. Now entering his sophomore year at Florida State University, the athlete has his eyes on medaling at the NCAA Championships and preparing for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
“I would have never expected a kid from Bellingham would be the third fastest U.S. Juniors hurdler ever. It’s been a dream come true,” Korbmacher said. “If I can highlight my hometown, it can give other kids from here or other small towns a chance to get started.”
Korbmacher nearly skipped his first world meet after a rough freshman season with the Seminoles track team.
He began his collegiate career during the 2024 indoor season and won his first meet at the Jimmy Carnes Invitational with a personal record in the 60-meter hurdles in 7.71 seconds. He won the event at another meet later in the season but missed the NCAA Championships by .01 seconds.
“Having the school pay for everything puts a lot of pressure on you to compete well,” Korbmacher said. “If I don’t perform at my expected level, I am letting the people down that are supporting me here.”
Korbmacher jumped into the 2024 outdoor season and injured his hamstring.
“It stressed me out and made me compete worse,” Korbmacher said. “I thought about taking a break and giving up until next year. What I learned is when something like that is going [on] and [you] overthink it, it will be way worse of a problem. You can fall on your coach and trainers who know how to make you healthy.”
Once Korbmacher overcame his mental hurdles, he began to live up to the expectations set on him when he arrived at Florida State. He finished second in the USA Track & Field Juniors Championships in 13.31 seconds and qualified for the U20 World Championships.
“To handle the pressure, I visualize everything I need to do before each race,” Korbmacher said. “I now have a world silver medal and have to live up to that. It drives me to push further every day.”
Before earning medals across the globe, Korbmacher dominated at the prep level.
“The first experience I had with track was an all-city fifth-grade track meet,” Korbmacher said. “I ran the 50-meter dash and got destroyed, but the thrill and adrenaline of being on the line is like a high I always chase.”
Korbmacher began racing for the Ready-Set-Go Sprinters club in 2019. From 2019–23, he won 36 races, including the Pacific Northwest Junior Olympics, AAU West Coast National Championships and New Balance Nationals Indoor.
He also shattered the Class 3A state record in the 110-meter hurdles in 13.74 seconds in 2023. Tim Irwin, a former Squalicum High and Bellingham High hurdles coach and current state track and field liaison, witnessed Korbamcher break the record.
“I have been going to state track meets since 1962 and saw the guys who had the record before Andre,” Irwin said. “I thought they were good but without a doubt, Andre is the best high school hurdler I have ever seen.”
Korbmacher broke the record when it was 60 degrees, with some headwind and in a constant downpour of rain. As Korbmacher develops, he hopes he can dominate the college season like he did in high school.
“My journey shows it doesn’t matter where you are from as long as you put the work in,” Korbmacher said. “It has brought me from Washington to Florida and travel all around the United States.”
Nick Zeller-Singh is CDN's sports reporter; reach him at nickzellersingh@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 104.
