What's that saying?
"Anna Hall Does It All."
I can't claim to be the original author of those words, but it captures it all, so I'll quote it...
The Valor Christian alumni and University of Florida sophomore captured the bronze medal in dramatic fashion in the heptathlon at the World Outdoor Championships Monday night.
But let's backtrack and tell this story about how the Valor Christian alumni went from start to finish over the past two days...
On Sunday Hall won the 200 by over half-a-second, running a personal best of 23.08, finished third in the high jump with a 6-1 clearance, finished third in the 100H in 13.20, and she finished ninth in the shot put with a toss of 44-8.
Heading into the final day of competition the 2022 NCAA Division 1 Heptathlon National Champion sat within the medals at third. She finished seventh in javelin with a 150-foot mark, and sixth in the long jump with a leap of 20-9.
With one event - the 800 - remaining, Hall maintained her bronze medal position. She trailed Nederland's Anouk Vetter by 304 points, and Belgians' Nafissatou Thiam by 285 points. And while her eyes were most likely focused on Vetter and Thiam in front of her, she held a slight lead over Poland's Adrianna Sulek, who was only 75 points behind Hall.
Needless to say, there was still a race to be won, and medals to be earned.
The opening strides of the 800 said it all: Hall was on a mission.
She didn't wanted to just end the meet on good note. No. Good was not enough for Hall.
She wanted to be great.
And that's exactly how she capped her first World Championship.
Hall led the race from start to finish by torching the opening lap just over 60-seconds, and she held off all-comers over the final quarter-mile.
The 21 year-old embodied the definition of grit over the final 200 meters.
She won the won the 800 by battling off not one-but-two challengers, running 2:06 to set an all-time, all-dates collegiate best of 6,755 points.
The finish solidified Hall's bronze medal, making her the first American to win a medal at the World Championships since 2001 - or in other words, since Hall was barely four-months old.
Thiam claimed overall gold by tallying 6,947, and Vetter claimed silver with 6,867 points.
One could say that Hall's rise to the world scene has been a long time coming, at least from a Coloradans perspective...
As a junior she won Colorado state titles in the 100H, 300H, and the long jump, and finished second in the 200. She briefly held the Colorado 300H state record, running 40.76 in the prelims.
A month later she set the high school heptathlon national record at the Great Southwest Classic.
In her senior year at Valor Hall was quite familiar with winning.
Prior to her final outdoor season, she claimed the pentathlon national record indoors, then went on to dominate Colorado, winning state titles in the 100H, and 300H, and was the final leg of Valor's state-record 4x400, which ran 3:41.89.
Following her senior year she once again broke her heptathlon national record - while winning the event(s) at the Pan American U20 Championships.
In early May this year Hall won the USATF Heptathlon Title, tallying 6,458 points for the No. 2 Heptathlon performance in collegiate history.
Last month Hall claimed the NCAA D1 Heptathlon National title by tallying 6,385 points, and she finished second in the 400H. Her victory secured a 10-point lead for Florida, who won the NCAA Division I women's outdoor track & field championships.
Congrats to Anna Hall!
