Courtesy of Taylor Friehl
Every comeback story is only as good as the result. For American heptathlete Anna Hall, her story is nothing short of incredible. The Olympics continue to be one of the most watched sporting events across the world, with more than three billion viewers tuning into the 2020 games in Tokyo. 4.5 million viewers specifically tuned into the broadcast of the 2024 US Track and Field Olympic Trials in June. Anna Hall was arguably one of the most-watched athletes on that stage, and her performance in the heptathlon did not disappoint.
The heptathlon is an extremely challenging event that combines the two aspects of the sport: running on the track and throwing/jumping field events. Each athlete is required to compete in the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200-meter, long jump, javelin, and finally the 800 meters. The competition typically spans across two days, allowing for minimal rest. Scoring is done with a point system determined by World Athletics. Due to the rigor and requirements of their seven events, heptathletes are some of the strongest, fiercest competitors. Versatility and determination are two traits necessary for a top contender. Anna Hall has both.
At 23 years old, the Colorado native has just earned her first Olympic bid and will be competing in the heptathlon in Paris this summer. Her journey to this opportunity truly began at the 2021 Olympic trials. Despite her strong ambitions and high expectations, Hall went down in the 100-meter hurdles, breaking her left foot and ruling her out of Olympic qualification positioning. “I remember falling in 2021 at Olympic Trials,” Hall shares. “I remember going home and being like, ‘I’m never going to be able to say I was an Olympian.’” Left with nothing but frustration and a stronger will to persevere, Hall put this setback behind her and began to look forward to the next step. She made the decision to transfer from the University of Georgia to the University of Florida and went on to win two NCAA Division I national titles for the Gators. With such an impressive comeback already behind her and an even more promising future, Adidas signed Hall to a professional contract in the summer of 2022. Shortly thereafter, Hall won bronze at the 2022 Track and Field World Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
With all hope that injuries were behind her, Hall competed in the succeeding World Championships held in Budapest in 2023. She came away with a silver medal in the heptathlon; however, her season was not without any losses. Posting on social media in January, Hall shared “Earlier this month I had a small knee procedure…It breaks my heart to be passing on the indoor world championships next month, but this was something we needed to do now in order to focus on the Olympics.” Her somewhat “small” procedure required a tremendous amount of commitment and effort to come back the way that she did. Only thirteen short weeks post-surgery, Hall returned to the track. With the 2024 Olympic Trials in sight, Hall quickly got to work on her dream that she shared was “very much alive.”
Fast forward to June 2024, and Hall is right back at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, the same track where she broke her foot in 2021. With seven challenging events in front of her, Hall focused on maintaining confidence and believing she deserved to earn an Olympic bid. Using a notebook as a place of reassurance and self-belief, handwritten phrases were sprawled out on multiple pages, including “I can. I will. I must,” “Today I will become an Olympian,” and “Prove them wrong.” Hall later shares that, “These past few days I just tapped into my self-belief and trying to tell myself [like no like] I’ve been here before [like] I can do this, and I think honestly like a week ago I wasn’t there mentally. I wasn’t ready for this meet, and then one day I was just like, ‘No, we are going to make this happen.’ Immediately, my practices were like night and day…I just had to tap into the competitor that I am and keep telling myself, “You’re one of the toughest competitors out there. Act like it!”” With confidence building and adrenaline rushing, Hall stepped onto the track for one of the biggest competitions of her life, the last obstacle between her and a trip to Paris.
The Olympic Trials’ heptathlon began with a blazing 100-meter hurdles race in which Hall kept herself in the mix with a time of 13.34 seconds. She then climbed into first place with a high jump height of 5-11.50 or 1.82 meters. Hall placed third in shot put with a throw of 14.35 meters and followed that up with a fifth-place finish in the 200 meters (23.90 seconds) to close out day one of the competition. Heading into day two in first place, Hall was prepared to close out the field and silence the demons in her head. She finished third in both long jump (20-3.75 or 6.19 meters) and javelin (149-6 or 14.35 meters). Channeling her self-belief and the personal mission to achieve what was taken away from her due to injuries, Hall raced around the track for the final event of the heptathlon. With a victory in the 800 meters, with a time of 2:04.39, she secured the top overall position with a total of 6,614 points and an Olympic bid for the first time in her career.
Immediately flooded with emotions, Hall ran over to her sisters, who made their way to the first row of spectators. The blood, sweat, and tears she put into this effort were evident. “Honestly, just relief,” shared Hall following the race. “I’ve wanted this for so long and my Olympic journey has been really, really hard.” She went on to say how special this was for her: “…it’s super special. I’m beyond grateful.” Hall is now preparing for her Olympic debut in Paris later this month. Her comeback, beginning in 2021 and especially only six months out of knee surgery, has been a tremendous feat to watch. As excitement over the Olympics builds and USA team members start their travel overseas, more eyes are turning to Anna Hall to see how her comeback story will end. For Hall, the Olympic Trials are not enough. Going in as a top contender in the heptathlon, Anna Hall is looking to etch her name in Olympic track and field history. After all, a gold medal would make everything that much sweeter.
