Katie Moon always shows up and shows out when it matters most, and her performance at the World Championships in Budapest proved just that.
After a back and forth, highly competitive and intense competition in the women’s pole vault, Moon, along with Australia’s Nina Kennedy took home gold medals after both athletes tied for first place.
Moon and Kennedy missed their last attempts at 4.95m in the competition. After some discussion, they both came to a mutual agreement to share the gold medal.
“It really was amazing,” she told Anderson Emerole after the event. “This competition was arguably the toughest battle I would say that I’ve had. To go for (4.95m) and to clear 4.90 on the third attempt – it was very emotionally draining. I think that’s why both of us were feeling like we’re not feeling a jump off right now. I wasn’t sure if she’d want to, so I initially said yeah, I’ll jump. And then when I saw the look on her face, I was like ‘do you not want to, can we share?”
This is the third consecutive global championship that Moon has won in the pole vault in as many years. She took home the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics back in 2021, and she followed that up with gold medals at last year’s World Championships in Eugene, and then again on Wednesday in Budapest. What’s the key to her consistency? It’s simple. Her day-to-day preparation allows her to be at her best in the big moments.
“It’s my training,” she said. “It really comes down to just the way that I train. I know that I’ve put the work in and I know my cues. As long as I can pick my pole up and tell my body what I want it to do – I have two main cues. My first is cover ground, and that embodies the first half of the run. Stay tall, stay relaxed, but drive out. And then fast hands in the second half. And that makes sure that everything that goes into the takeoff is powerful, fast, explosive, and that continues through the top of the jump. The combination of that, plus I trust the equipment that I’m on, I trust my coach – it’s a combination of everything. You still have nerves, but I felt good.”
Moon was ready to do great things headed into this year’s World Championships in Budapest. She had a great block of training leading up to the championships, and she was ready for her hard work to pay off in Budapest.
“I felt really good,” she said. “I felt ready. I had gotten a PRP injection back in May, and I would say for the first month, month and a half, I was kind of coming off of that – and I don’t want to say I had to work my way back into shape, but I did kind of have to work my way back into shape on the runway. But I will say that my last couple of weeks of training coming into this was some of the best training that I’ve ever had, and I felt so ready and so excited. You just never know how it’s going to go, so to have it come together, I’m ecstatic.”
Being consistent isn’t always easy, but Moon made sure to do what she needed to do in order to be at her best this season. She was able to take some time away from the sport to mentally recharge and refocus. That extended time away paid dividends for Moon.
“It’s been different every year,” she said. “Last year was such a struggle just coming off of the Olympics – I crashed so hard from that mentally, emotionally and physically. I think just showing up everyday last year even when I didn’t want to allowed me to be in shape when I showed up at the championships and when my head finally did get on my shoulders straight. This year coming off of that, I took a six week break, did literally nothing. Not even pole-vault related, but just exercise related – it was so great. Having that time to rest and relax, it allowed me to come into this preseason just excited and refocused, and everyday just trying to execute to the best of my ability whatever the workout is.”
While Moon is excited about what she was able to accomplish in Budapest, she knows that the competition in the women’s pole vault continues to elevate, and that she will need to be on her A game in order to continue to find great success in the event. Moon is up for the challenge, and is looking forward to continue to improve in her craft as the 2024 Paris Olympics draws near.
“It’s going to take a lot of really good training, it’s going to take maybe a touch of luck,” she said. “On any given day, it’s anyone’s day. I’m so grateful that it’s been my day the past couple of years, but I know that these girls are going to be gunning for it next year. I know that there are going to be girls that weren’t even here that are going to be gunning for it next year. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I’m going to do everything I can to work my butt off to make that happen.”
