A joyful celebration: Kara Winger shines bright in her final season

July 22 was a special night at Hayward Field.

Many will recall Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s earth-shattering performance in the women’s 400m hurdles, and Michael Norman’s and Shaunae Miller-Uibo’s respective performances in the 400m. But right before the fireworks on the track took place, on the infield, something amazing was taking place.

Kara Winger had one throw left in the women’s javelin, and she saved her best for last. She launched the javelin 64.05m, which was good enough for not only the silver medal, but it meant that she’s the first athlete from Team USA to medal in the women’s javelin.

“It was wild,” she said. “Everything else had stopped. The 400m runners were going to start fairly soon, but they weren’t starting them yet, and I was the only thing happening in the stadium. So the whole stadium was slow-clapping for me. They’re the only reason I knew I got into the medals.”

Kara didn’t want to immediately celebrate because the competition wasn’t over, and she wanted to respect her competitors. So she went to a corner and anxiously waited out to see how she fared. 

She wasn’t overwhelmed with emotion to the point of tears in the moment, or even after the competition ended. She was full of joy and excitement as she reflected on what she accomplished at the World Championships. Her performance was just the beginning of a dominant stretch of performances that included winning a gold medal at the NACAC Championships, breaking the American record at Brussels, and winning the Diamond League final.

“I haven’t cried because I’m just so proud of my team and myself for what finally happened,” she said. “Just celebrating.”

That was the theme for Kara in her final season, which was the way she wanted it to be, and that was to savor and enjoy every moment of her journey.

A New Direction

Kara made some changes headed into her final season that would allow her to do what she’d hoped to do, which was enjoy her final journey in her final season. One thing that helped her accomplish that goal was making the decision to be coached by her husband, Russ Winger. 

Like Kara, Russ was a professional track and field thrower, specializing in the shot put and the discus. With the couple traveling for work in their respective fields, Winger thought that Russ coaching her would be a fun way to hang out with each other, while also improving in the javelin.

“I wanted to spend more time with him in this last season and the best way to do that was for him to be my coach,” she said. “Also, I knew he could coach me well. But really, I missed him.”

The couple was in-sync with Kara’s goals for the season and what she set out to achieve. Outside of the joy that came from winning a silver medal, Russ was impressed with Kara’s focus and drive to quickly bounce back and try to achieve the remaining goals that she looked to accomplish.

“That was probably one of the most impressive things to me, was watching her almost immediately refocus after Worlds,” he said. “If you go back to when we started our initial training in the fall before the season, if somebody came up to us and said Kara was going to get silver at Worlds in Eugene, we would say it can’t get better than that. Before the season started, Kara was pretty clear that she wanted to have her best performance at Worlds that she’s ever had, and she wants to PR again.”

She accomplished all these things and more. 

The javelin presents many challenges and requires great discipline and hard work in order to achieve success. During his time coaching her and being along her side throughout her journey as a professional athlete, Russ has witnessed her dedication, as well as a couple of other qualities that stood out to him.

“I’m proud of Kara for two things: her sticktoitiveness and dedication to the craft,” he said. “The other thing is being very intentional about having people close to her that are for her and want her to do very well.”

A great support system

Russ is one of the people that he speaks about when it comes to Kara building a team of people who are close to her that have her best interest in mind. Two others that fit this category are Ariana Ince and Jamie Myers.

Ince is one of Kara’s best friends, and happens to be one of best javelin throwers in the United States. The duo has a special bond off the track, as Ince lived with Kara and Russ for a short time during the pandemic.

“It’s so fun to have a friend that you don’t have to explain yourself to –  that person just gets you,” Ince said.

Ince has been with Kara through her journey of recovering from two ACL tears, and she understands everything it took for her to reach the level of success post-injury.

On the night that Kara took home the silver medal, she sat next to Lisa Allman, mother of Olympic gold medalist and World Championships bronze medalist, Valarie Allman.  As the crowd celebrated Kara’s throw, Allman hugged Ince in celebration. Ince said that in that moment, she froze up as she witnessed greatness.

“As soon as I saw it come out of her hand, I just froze,” Ince said. “I didn’t move. I’ve seen the whole thing happen in front of me and been close enough to it to have that be such a clutch moment and such a deserved moment was so fun. Just to be a part of it like so many others was a part of it – but to have seen so much of the work to get there first-hand was really special.” 

Ince appreciates Kara’s authentic, genuine nature, and that’s the basis of what makes her unique, but also appreciated by her peers in the sport.

“The thing that I think is important about Kara is that if she’s created a blueprint on how to be an athlete, it has much more to do about being true to who you are and letting whatever comes with that, come with that,” Ince said. 

Ince also believes that Kara made the javelin look special because of how special she really is as a person, and that there’s no one who could fill her shoes. 

“That’s what I don’t want to get lost in all of the doors that she’s opened – she’s the face of American women’s javelin,” Ince said.

Another person who has been a key member for Kara is Jamie Myers. Myers is the head strength and conditioning coach for the United States Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California. He’s helped develop some of the best athletes in the sport of track and field, including Kara and Joe Kovacs. 

He’s worked with Kara for 13 years and she considers him to be family. Like Ince, he’s also witnessed the highs and lows of her career. But he believes that her legacy goes far beyond winning.

“I might be too caught up in all of it at the moment to be able to give you a good answer,” Myers said. “Obviously four, Olympic games, six World Championships, nine National Championships and being the only US Woman to medal in the javelin at the World Championships. Those are all the kind of obvious things that would contribute to her “sporting legacy”. Being the Closing Ceremony Flag Bearer at her fourth Olympics I think shows that her legacy is more than just that. It speaks to her commitment & determination, as well as the kindness and supportiveness towards friends, teammates and competitors. 

“Sports and the Olympic movement are about more than just “winning”, and I think Kara embodies that. I respect the hell out of her for that.”

The Grand Finale

Kara’s final season was one that she couldn’t have imagined. She finished with two medals, a Diamond League title and the American record in the javelin. From the start of the season to the end of the season and everything in between, she enjoyed every moment.

“Not in my wildest dreams after two ACL tears did I think this season would happen the way it did,” Winger said. “Once I was consistently over 63 early in the year, I thought 65 could easily happen, but 68m is wild. I always wanted to break the American Record as Kara Winger (since the first time I did it I was still Kara Patterson), and I feel incredibly lucky that I finally got to 12 years later. To spend so much quality time with Russ around the world, share throwing again, and see the success that we did, I know it’s cliche, but it happened because I was beyond happy and grateful for every moment. 

“To come back from my second knee surgery and just enjoy every movement I was capable of again in this second year post-op made every practice fun. And I did my best to not lose track of that feeling all year.”