By Aaron Heisen for the University of Oregon SOJC Track Bureau
Whether it’s the World Athletics Championships or the Olympic Games, the prospect of competing on the global stage has motivated Anna Hall since she was a child.
Her interest was piqued as she admired the poster of Allyson Felix on the wall in her room. It grew even stronger in 2016 when Hall and her family traveled to Eugene, Oregon, to watch the U.S. Olympic trials.
Six years later, Hall is back at Hayward Field to fulfill her goal of competing on the global stage, representing the United States at the World Athletics Championships in the heptathlon, which starts Sunday.
However, the first time she tried to qualify for the U.S. national team she fell short.
In 2021, at the U.S. Olympic trials for the Tokyo Olympics, Hall was leading the third heat in the heptathlon’s first event, the 100-meter hurdles. Then, her aspirations came to a crashing halt as she stumbled over the eighth hurdle and was unable to finish the race.
“I was gutted,” Hall said.
Not only did Hall miss out on qualifying for the U.S. national team, but she had broken a bone in her left foot in the fall.
With her first season at the University of Florida on the horizon, Hall’s focus turned to a rehab process.
“I really wanted to be in Tokyo last year,” Hall said. “This was really what motivated me throughout most of my rehab.”
With global endeavors on her mind, Hall returned to the track in January. She won an NCAA heptathlon title, in June, and received a nomination for the Bowerman Award after the season was over.
To go along with all her success at the collegiate level, Hall achieved the goal that had escaped her at the U.S. Olympic trials.
At the 2022 USATF Combined Events Championships, she achieved that goal. With a personal-best of 6,458 points in the heptathlon, Hall won the event and earned a spot on the U.S. national team for the World Championships.
When Hall earned a spot on the U.S. national team for the World Championships, it didn’t feel real. At least not until Hall arrived in Eugene, Oregon, for her first World Championships.
As she walked into the hotel, she realized this trip to the Pacific Northwest would be much different than the ones she had made for the NCAA and USATF Championships in June.
It hit Hall again Friday at the U.S. national team’s press conference. Instead of staring at Allyson Felix’s image on the wall in her room, Hall sat on the panel, a seat away from her.
“Wow. These are people that I grew up watching on TV, that I grew up looking up to,” Hall said. “Now I’m on the same team as them.”
