Nine-Time U.S. Champion Funneled Her Boundless Energy Into One Of Her Best Seasons At 33
By David Woods for DyeStat
Photos by Becky Holbrook and Davd Woods
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – She thought of becoming a veterinarian and cares for 11 pets. She manages property and owns three houses. She sings and plays guitar, once performing in a full Swiss stadium of 25,000. She has a YouTube channel, vlogging from what she learned as a broadcast journalism student. She has been a hurdler, volleyball player, equestrienne. She wants to build an all-purpose venue. Or maybe coach.
So what’s next for Sandi Morris?
“I want to do everything. That’s the problem,” she said. “I have to figure out where to put all this passion and energy I have.”
For now, she devotes most of that energy to the pole vault, as she has for two decades. She has never won a gold medal at an outdoor global championship, and she could do so in the World Championships at Tokyo.
Qualifying is Monday and the final Wednesday.
“I see no reason why I can’t be better than I’ve ever been before,” Morris said.
Her career has featured ups and downs, with travels taking her darn near everywhere. She has won medals on four continents. Born in Downers Grove Ill., home base has been Greenville, S.C.; Chapel Hill, N.C.; Fayetteville, Ark.; Atlanta, and now Louisville.
She ended up training this season at Cardinal Park, within earshot of traffic along I-65, so she could collaborate with Louisville vault coach Brooke Rasnick. Former NCAA champion Gabi Leon, who was fifth at March’s World Indoor Championships, was already coached by Rasnick. At this stage of her career, Morris said, she sought more of a colleague than a coach.
“I like her calm but commanding energy,” Morris said. “I just felt immediately a mutual respect with her.”
Morris has earned such respect. In the decade since winning indoor NCAAs at Arkansas, she has nine national titles and seven global medals (including world indoor golds in 2018 and 2022).
Most recently, she won a fifth U.S. outdoor title at last month’s USA Championships, beating former training partner Katie Moon, the 2022-23 world champion and 2021 Olympic gold medalist.
Olympic years have been painful for Morris. It is part of her motivation for pushing toward Los Angeles 2028. Nine years ago, she brushed the bar on what would have been the gold-medal jump.
Gold went to Katerina Stefanidi of Greece. Morris learned there is a Greek video game in which an…
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