All eyes will be on Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Belgium's Nafi Thiam in the heptathlon contest at Paris 2024, as world champion takes on the Olympic champion this summer.
But there is another athlete who could upset the odds and ensure neither Thiam or Johnson-Thompson take the gold medal in the French capital.
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At 23-years-old, Anna Hall may be less experienced than her rivals, but she has enjoyed a meteoric rise in heptathlon over the past few years.
The American has even been backed by the GOAT of heptathlon two-time Olympic champion and world record holder Jackie Joyner-Kersee. It’s no wonder that Hall is being touted as a potential standout star at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games - which will be live on talkSPORT in July.
Overcoming injury heartbreak
Hall was destined to be a sports star, growing up in an extremely athletic family. Her father had represented the University of Michigan in American football, basketball and decathlon, while her older sisters played tennis and competed in athletics.
Despite showing talent in football, volleyball, lacrosse and field hockey, Hall chose to focus on athletics when she was seven years old. She was proficient in a range of disciplines and so began competing in pentathlon and heptathlon, joining the University of Georgia to take part in NCAA competitions in 2019.
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At 21-years-old, Hall was good enough to be competing in the US Olympic trials for Tokyo 2020. But in the opening event of the women’s heptathlon, the 100m hurdles, Hall crashed into a barrier and broke her foot. The devastating injury meant she was ruled out of the Olympics and wasn’t able to walk unaided until four months after the incident.
Hall then transferred to the University of Florida, where she continued to impress in NCAA competitions. Her breakthrough moment came at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon, on the same track where she had broken her foot the year prior.
This time, Hall did not squander the opportunity. She set lifetime bests in three events to take the bronze medal in front of a home crowd, behind gold medallist Thiam and silver medallist Anouk Vetter.
Hall turned professional in August 2022, signing a contract with Adidas, before upgrading her world bronze medal with a silver at the 2023 World Athletics Championships. This time she finished behind Johnson-Thompson and ahead of Vetter, continuing her upwards trajectory.
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Relationships in the spotlight
As Hall’s profile grows, so does scrutiny on her personal life. She was in a power couple with US tennis star Ben Shelton, with the pair meeting in 2021 when they were both at the University of Florida.
Shelton, currently ranked as the 15th best men’s tennis player in the world, once described Hall as the “best athlete in the relationship”.
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“Yeah, she's better than me,” he told the Tennis Channel in 2022. “She got a bronze medal at the World Championships this year and she definitely keeps me humble. I’m not even the best athlete in my relationship. So, [that’s] something to work on.
“Yeah [we can push each other], it's definitely really cool. We're kind of going through the same process right now – I’m turning pro versus going back to college and she actually made her decision last week to turn pro. So she got there before me.”
Sadly, Hall and Shelton appear to have broken up, and she is now in a relationship with NFL cornerback Joejuan Williams.
Earning praise from the greatest
Despite all of Hall’s achievements so far in track and field, one of her career highlights is likely earning praise from Joyner-Kersee.
The 62-year-old earned an Olympic gold medal in the long jump and heptathlon at Seoul 1988, before successfully defending her heptathlon title at Barcelona 1992. She still holds the heptathlon world record after scoring 7291 points in Seoul.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee was part of NBC’s broadcast at the 2022 World Athletics Championships, where Hall earned a bronze medal shortly after returning from injury.
“Anna, that fierce competitor, she kept pushing and didn’t give up,” Joyner-Kersee said. “She’s young and I just can’t wait to see what her future is going to be like in this event. She's amazing.”
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Hall later responded to the feedback in an interview with Olympics.com, saying: “It’s really humbling that somebody that I put on such a high pedestal would say those things about me.
“It gave me a lot of confidence going back into training because I'm like, ‘Wow, if somebody as amazing as her believes in me, then why can't I believe in myself?’”
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Hall will certainly be heading into the Paris 2024 Olympic Games high on confidence, ready to end the dominance of Johnson-Thompson and Thiam with a gold medal in the heptathlon.
The Olympics are on talkSPORT this summer, and you can tune in via our free online streaming service at talkSPORT.com