Budapest WAC’s 2023, A look back at Anna Hall’s heptathlon

I asked Sam Fariss to write this tribute to Anna Hall and her super heptathlon in Budapest. I think that she did a pretty awesome job. 

BUDAPEST – Anna Hall captured the hearts of track and field fans around the United States throughout her collegiate career at the University of Florida and locked them into her fan base when she earned the heptathlon bronze medal at the World Athletics Championships in 2022.

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The young star has had success comparable to that of Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who seemed like an incomparable athlete for Team USA even at the start of her career in 1984. However, Hall didn’t leave fans waiting for more for long, as she worked to earn silver at the 2023 Budapest World Championships.

The first of the seven events is the 100-meter hurdles, a strong suit for all of Team USA’s heptathletes. Hall was able to earn a second-place finish, bringing in 1129 points to start. She was only edged out of 1st place in the event by compatriot Taliyah Brooks, who had a season-best finish of 12.78 seconds.

Hall and Brooks were followed by fellow American Chari Hawkins, who finished in 3rd place with a personal best of 13.04 seconds.

The high jump competition was next for the women, and Hall seemed to falter slightly during the event. She ended up collecting 1016 points and tying for third with Hawkins at a height of 1.83 meters. Germany’s Sophie Weissenberg finished in 1st place, and Great Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson finished second.

The third event of the day was the shot put, where Hall was able to earn 3rd place with an impressive toss of 14.54 meters, her new personal best. She trailed behind the Netherland’s Anouk Vetter and Finland’s Saga Vanninen. However, she continued to lead the overall competition with 2975 points.

To wrap up the first day of events was another of Hall’s strong suits: the 200-meter race. She had a shaky start and was trailing most of the field until she surged forward in the last 50 meters. Johnson-Thompson was able to outlast Hall’s final push and beat her by just 0.08 seconds.

After four of the seven events, Hall led Johnson-Thompson’s 3998 total points to 3905 points, an extremely thin margin. Chari Hawkins was in third with 3900 points.

“The last few days of training and here, in my mind, I was ready to score 7000 points,” Hall said. “By no means did I go in expecting anything less than the best from myself?”

At the start of day two, Hall had bandages on her left leg, but there had been no announcement from her nor her camp about an injury to the 22-year-old star. Despite questions in the air, she attacked the long jump competition but fell short of a top spot.

Hall finished with a best jump of 6.19 meters, far from her best. This seemed to be a sign of the tide changing as Johnson-Thompson clinched first in the event with a jump of 6.54 meters to collect 1020 points and push her into 1st place overall.

The penultimate event was the javelin throw, a weak point for both Hall and Johnson-Thompson. The young American earned tenth with a throw of 44.88 meters, her season best, while the British veteran placed seventh. Johnson-Thompson, in 1st place, now led Hall, who had fallen to third, by 43 points with just one event remaining.

Commentators called Hall a shark in the 800 meters, but she needed to beat Johnson-Thompson by at least 3 seconds, quite a margin for the middle-distance event. Hall took off strong and never looked back, maintaining a gap between herself and the rest of the field. However, she was only able to beat Johnson-Thompson by 1.54 seconds, despite running a championship record.

At the end of the seven events, Hall brought home a silver medal, a slight upgrade (as she called it) from her bronze at the 2022 world champs. Johnson-Thompson stood atop the podium, collecting a total of 6740 points.

Hall joins Joyner-Kersee as the only two Americans to have medaled at multiple World Athletics Championships in the heptathlon.

“She’s just been so awesome, so supportive,” Hall said of her relationship with Joyner-Kersee. “I got to talk to her a little bit before the meet, even opened up to her a little bit about being banged up coming in, and she was like, ‘Just tough it out, keep going and keep fighting.’ Really awesome to have her encouragement.”

Following the conclusion of her competition, Hall shared that she suffered a PCL knee injury and bone bruise on July 17th during a training accident. She kept the rehab process to herself and her team leading up to the world championships but said there were times she wasn’t sure she would even travel to Budapest.

“Having had what feels like the weight of the world on your shoulders when you know you’re not 100% healthy and nobody knows that, it’s not easy,” Hall said. “I’m proud of the way I handled that and just kept fighting.”