'I'm not fighting myself anymore'

After Olympic heartache in Paris, Anna Hall has been learning to fall in love with the heptathlon again. She talks to Euan Crumley about mending her relationship with the event, and how she managed to rediscover the spark that laid the groundwork for greatness in Götzis

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There was a delay of a couple of days but, as the dust settled, the tears came. After announcing that she was undoubtedly back to her best - producing the joint second-highest heptathlon score in history at the Hypomeeting in Götzis - Anna Hall couldn’t keep her emotions in check any longer.

“Any time I've made a big breakthrough, it takes my brain a while to almost catch up to the level that I'm at,” she says. “But it did start to sink in and I got emotional a few days after. It was a really special weekend.”

The performance meant so much because the American has been through so much since slipping on a long jump board in the lead-up to the World Championships two summers ago. Back then, she had just fully burst on to the world heptathlon scene.

Yes, at the age of 21, she had become NCAA champion and also won a world bronze on home turf at Eugene 2022, but a performance of 6988 in Götzis a year later not only secured victory but underlined her credentials as a talent to really be reckoned with. Her second national title followed and everything seemed to be lining up for an attack on a maiden global gold in Budapest.

Around four weeks out from those world championships, however, came that long jump mishap that resulted in “a small tear” in Hall's PCOthe Posterior Condylar Offset that helps flexion and stability of the knee.