Sandy Creek grad Christian Taylor nearly made history last weekend in Beijing when he took the gold medal in the triple jump at the IAAF World Championships.

His leap of 18.21 meters set a new U.S. record and was only eight centimeters short of the world record set 20 years ago by Jonathan Edwards at the World Championships in Sweden.

Taylor won the world title four years ago in Daegu, South Korea, and he brought home the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London.