BY DENNY DRESSMAN
Former Valor Christian and University of Florida star Anna Hall won her second straight national heptathlon gold medal at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon last weekend.
Competing with her parents, David and Ronette Hall of Greenwood Village, cheering her on, Hall finished with 6,677 points to repeat as the nation’s best female athlete. Her margin was 358 points ahead of the silver medalist, Taliyah Brooks, a former University of Arkansas standout.
Six weeks earlier, at the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold Meet in Gotzis, Austria, Hall won all seven events and finished with 6,988 points. It was the highest heptathlon score in six years.
Her total—only 293 points below Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s world record—enabled her to join the heptathlon legend as the only women to exceed 6,700 points in the history of the heptathlon.
“What I see are all the tools to rewrite the record books,” Joyner-Kersee said. “You’re seeing greatness in motion without even knowing the greatness is before you, because of her natural ability.”
In Oregon, Hall spent time with the world record-holder, who has become something of a mentor.
“It’s awesome to keep getting wisdom from her,” Hall said. She’s really poured into me, kind of off-the-track advice, which has been super valuable.”
With her gold medal and point total, Hall qualifies for the World Track and Field Championship in Budapest, Hungary next month. The heptathlon will be contested over two days, August 19-20, during the eight-day Championships.
There, Hall will face two-time Belgian Olympic gold medalist Nafi Thiam, who became the only heptathlete to equal Joyner-Kersee’s back-to-back Olympic titles by winning in Tokyo in 2020 as an encore to Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Thiam set the pentathlon indoor world record in March and is the defending heptathlon champion.
“I think it’s going to be a really exciting finish to decide the world’s top female athlete,” Hall said, predicting that the gold medal will come down to the final event, the 800-meter run.