Heptathlete Anna Hall to make Olympic debut, overcomes 2021 heartbreak with help from Jackie Joyner-Kersee

EUGENE, Ore. — After breaking her foot at the last Olympic trials. After a complex knee surgery in January. After enduring all the disappointing times and self doubt. Anna Hall left no doubt.

She blistered the competition in the 800-meter race, the final event of the heptathlon, to secure the national championship in the discipline and a spot on her first Olympic team. Her win, which was by more than two seconds, put her at 6,614 points, easily securing the gold at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials.

Hall won the high jump (1.82 meters) and the 800-meter race. She was third-best in shot put (14.35 meters) and javelin throw (45.77 meters) and finished fifth in the 200 meters (23.90 seconds) and the long jump (6.19 meters).

Her worst event was the 100-meter hurdles. Hall acknowledged thinking about the fall in the hurdles race that broke her foot in 2021. She was more cautious this time on the hurdles.

Overwhelmed by the emotion, she lay on the track in disbelief. When she found enough energy, she went to hug her crying sisters in the front row.

Just look at what qualifying for the Olympics meant to Anna Hall and her family 🥹 @annaahalll pic.twitter.com/8arzD2ZZCT

— On Her Turf (@OnHerTurf) June 25, 2024

“I’ve wanted this for so long,” Hall said. “My Olympic dreams have been really, really hard. In 2021, the fall, that was absolutely devastating. … It’s just been a lot of adversity and a lot of doubt. So it’s just relief. Like, ‘OK. I am meant to do this. I finally made it.’ I was just really thankful.”

A star may have been born.

If so, she has one of the greatest Olympians in American history to guide her.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee — arguably the greatest all-around athlete in women’s sports, who has Olympic gold and silver in the heptathlon — was in attendance at Hayward Field for Monday’s final. She has become Hall’s mentor and “like family.” Joyner-Kersee has helped Hall get the right mindset to pull this off.

“There’s a huge mentorship there,” Hall said. “It’s meant the world. … This year, every single meet I did was just so hard to kind of compete not feeling like yourself and then put up marks that were underwhelming. And so every time I kind of left them just feeling defeated. Like, ‘Oh, can we really do this? Progress isn’t showing.’

“So I came back (from one meet) and it’s like, ‘Oh, I’ve got this interview thing to do. Whatever.’ And then Jackie surprised me. It’s like, ‘Oh my goodness!’ And it really just immediately lifted my spirits. I actually think it was at the perfect time. She’s been such a great mentor and role model.”

Required reading

(Photo: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)