Katie Moon, Future Plans – runblogrun

Katie Moon,  future plans

I first met Katie when we transited through Abu Dhabi (or somewhere!) en route to the Doha Diamond League. On arrival, I hoped my suitcase had made it; Katie and her poles had arrived.  Then the meet sent a mini-bus too short for poles, which had to stick out the window! I have gotten to know her a bit over the years and always appreciated her willingness to talk – and explain pole vault to me.  I had been privileged to be in Tokyo for that Olympic gold, Eugene for that World Championship win, and quite a few other places.

It is great to see Katie Moon in a good place, enjoying her craft and looking forward to the future because it was not always so.  On paper, winning the Olympics in 2021 and the World Championships in 2022 look like a pinnacle, but there is another story: “Absolutely. It’s funny, looking back at 2022, that was by far my toughest year in every sense, and I didn’t know how I would come out on the other side of that – if I’d still be pole vaulting. But what I find is that you – towards the end of each season, I just still love the sport. When it goes well, it’s just not as much fun; it’s awful when it doesn’t go as well. That’s anything you work hard at that you want to go well. I’m so glad that I went through that. I mean, I hated it at the moment. It was awful, and I am sure it was awful for everyone around me. But that year, winning that World Championships did more for my confidence and my mental well-being than anything ever had for me in the sport. Just knowing that I could win that World Championship with the year that I had had – on a short approach, it finally instilled this confidence that I am good at this sport – which sounds ridiculous because I had won the Olympics”.

In 2024, she competed 10 times and found that the fun was back: “When you’re younger, it makes sense to just jump at any and every opportunity that presents itself, but I think at my age, 10 competitions is a good number, but really every year it just depends how I’m feeling, how I’m jumping, if I’m feeling good and confident, sometimes I want more chances to jump at something high. Sometimes, I just want to train more and favor the big ones, but I definitely like to compete a bit more rather than a little less. That is because I am very different in a competition than in training; as much as I try…