This is one of our most popular pieces from 2023 and early 2024 about one of our most popular athletes, Katie Moon. Katie has just overcome some Achilles injuries and is ready and prepped for the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Stuart Weir wrote both of these pieces, and we thought you might enjoy them one week before the 2024 US Olympic Trials, which will be held June 21-30, 2024, in Eugene, Oregon.
Katie Moon is one of the best interviewees in our sport. Thanks, Katie! And thanks to Stuart, who just covered the European Champs, which was an arduous task.
List of entries right here: https://www.usatf.org/events/2024/2024-u-s-olympic-team-trials-%E2%80%94-track-field/status-of-entries
Schedule of 2024 US Olympic Trials right here: https://www.usatf.org/events/2024/2024-u-s-olympic-team-trials-%E2%80%94-track-field/status-of-entries
Katie Moon – thoughts on 2023
Katie Moon entered 2023 as the reigning Olympic and World Champion. This summer, she won the three competitions that mattered most to her, in chronological order: the U.S. Championships, the World Championship, and the Diamond League final. She competed 10 times with a third, a second, a no-height blip, and seven wins. Indoors, she had recorded three wins out of four, including the U.S. Championships. She was second in the Diamond League in Zurich, which, perversely, is listed as an indoor meet being held in a railway station!
I first met Katie in a transit lounge in Abu Dhabi in 2017. As we arrived in Doha together for the Diamond League, I became aware for the first time of the challenge involved in being a traveling pole-vaulter. While I had mild anxiety about whether my suitcase had made the connection, all Katie’s attention was on her poles. Even when they were safely located, there was a small issue: the minibus was too small to accommodate the poles. Eventually, we set off with the poles sticking out of the minibus window – the only way it had been possible to get them partially into the vehicle! While I found this all perplexing, Katie shrugged it off as just a normal day at the office! I have had the privilege of having many conversations with her in many different countries since then.
Coming back to 2023, I wondered if she might be a little blasé about being US champion, given that she had won it three times previously but not a bit of it: “I definitely don’t expect anything in the sport. It absolutely means so much…
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