Inspired By Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Anna Hall Led a Courageous Effort to Earn Silver in the Women's Heptathlon at Worlds

Anna Hall immediately charged to the front, going full gas in the 800-meter, the final event of the women’s heptathlon. The world championship bronze medalist from Eugene, Oregon, needed roughly a three-second margin of victory, to make up a 43-point deficit on Great Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson and bring home gold.

Displaying a valiant effort running solo at the front for all two laps – while nursing a knee injury across seven events and two grueling sun-splashed days – Hall won the race by 1.54 seconds over her British opponent.

The Team USA athlete finished the World Athletics Championships in women’s heptathlon with a total of 6,720 points, just 20 points short of gold. She claimed a hard-earned silver medal.

“I went for it – very bittersweet,” Hall said, silver medal around her neck and adorned in the American flag. “I really wanted gold and fought my heart out. Kat was just better today, I got beat and I just have to take that and use it for motivation next year.”

Hall revealed that she competed “a little bit banged up,” fighting an injury sustained from a recent slip on the long jump board during training.

“I hyperextended my knee, had a little bit of a PCL injury and bone bruise – not ideal two weeks out from the world championships,” Hall said. “We did everything we could through all the treatments and rehabs, and I thought I was ready to go and by no means can I expect anything less than gold for myself.

“You just can’t predict how the body is going to respond and I just fought the best that I could,” she added.

Hall led the two-day event by 93-points over Johnson-Thompson after Day 1. She dropped to second place on Sunday after a 6.19-meter long jump (fifth) and then down to third following a disappointing 44.88-meter javelin best (10th). 

The former Florida Gators standout analyzed her performance over two warm and humid days at the National Athletics Centre, in spite of the event start being postponed more than an hour due to persistent rain on Saturday morning.

“Honestly, I think the only thing that was up to my standards were the shot put and the 800,” she said. “Everything could have gone better, but that’s what championships are. They’re not really about the scores. The conditions were tough yesterday and the schedule was crazy, you don’t get much sleep.

“It’s hard to chase scores at championships, it’s more about competing for your position.”

Hall says that she and her team have raised the bar since last year’s world championship medal on home soil in Eugene.

“It was exceeding everyone’s and my expectations to get a bronze (in Eugene)

and this year we’re disappointed with silver.

“I think that says a lot about how far we’ve come – I’m still young, we’re going to keep climbing and I’m excited about that.”

Hall arrived in the Queen of the Danube on a high note, having ascended to fifth all-time in women’s heptathlon history, winning the combined events extravaganza in Götzis, Austria, (May 27-28) amassing a staggering total of 6,988. 

Only four women’s heptathletes have ever surpassed the 7,000-point barrier. The legend at the top of that list offered some words of wisdom to Hall this week prior to the competition.

Winning her second world championship heptathlon medal, Hall is only the second U.S. woman to win two at the marquee event. The Denver native joins the legendary Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who attained gold in 1987 and 1993.

“It means a ton to be mentioned in the same sentence with her – I’m like I don’t deserve that and I’m not there yet, so it’s still a little bit humbling when you guys do that,” Hall says about JJK.

“I’m super thankful for her and she’s been nothing but encouraging,” she said.

Hall informed that she had a friendly conversation with the two-time Olympic heptathlon champion and world record holder at a hospitality event in Budapest, just days before the heptathlon kicked off on Saturday.

“I opened up to her about being a little bit banged up coming in – I know she competed and won Olympic medals with injuries.

“She was like ‘just keep fighting, keep swinging, and never quit’ and that’s what I’ve tried to do, and I’m super thankful for her encouragement and support.”

Joyner-Kersee’s heptathlon world record total of 7,291 still stands. Now 61, the U.S. track and field star set the untouchable mark while winning gold at the Olympic Games Seoul 1988.

Hall’s 32-year-old U.S. teammate, Chari Hawkins, finished eighth, achieving a personal best score of 6,366. Sunday marked the first time that Hawkins was in the final heat of a heptathlon at the world championships.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been more ‘eye of the tiger’ before an 800 in my life than I was today,” Hawkins told Team USA after her competition.

“I’m proud of myself because I went out the way I needed to go out – I was brave and I gave myself a chance. Sometimes, you just don’t have the legs. With the schedule the way it was, we just had four hours of sleep here.

“This was a brutal heptathlon and I’m really proud of all of us [on the team].”

Hall said there was a stark contrast between her running and field events.

“I either had a personal or season best in all of the field events, and my two running events were not exactly what I wanted,” said the former Utah State Aggie.

Hawkins said that she has no plans for retirement at the moment. She noted that she is still having fun taking on seven events.

“I think I proved to myself, at 32-years of age, I’m getting better than I ever have been.”

She also commended the silver medal performance by her considerably younger U.S. teammate.

“Anna Hall is a generational athlete. I think all of us smile when she goes onto to the track,” Hawkins said about her teammate.

“It’s so fun to watch her grow. I said to her as soon as she crossed the finish line ‘babe, you’re going to break the world record. It’s not if, it’s when. Keep your head up, we’re all so proud of you.”

Taliyah Brooks, who led the heptathlon after the opening 110-meter hurdles on Saturday, had her competition come to a close due to a ‘no mark’ in Sunday’s opening long jump.

As a 20-year-old rising star in the sport, Hall had her sights firmly set on making her Olympic debut at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

Her hopes were dashed abruptly, while trying to qualify at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials. Leading her heat in the opening 100-meter hurdles event, Hall got tangled on the eighth barrier and crashed hard.

She broke her navicular bone in her foot, requiring a pin to be inserted and recovery involved three months of not putting any weight on her foot.

“That’s been the story of my career so far – 2021 I got told no. But I came back with fire in my belly in 2022 and exceeded my expectations, but this year kind of feel like I got told no again.

“Indoors, I was so close to the world record and didn’t get in, in Götzis, I was so close to 7,000 points and didn’t get it, and here I was so close to gold and didn’t get it.

“I’m just going to keep giving it my best and hopefully the chips will fall in my favor soon,” Hall said with a smile.