COMPETING SUCCESSFULLY in the pole vault at the very highest of levels is all about mastering pressure. No one knows that better than Katie Moon, and no woman has been as successful at it in recent years.
Moon, at 34, has now won three World golds in a row, an unprecedented feat. Add that to the Cleveland native’s Olympic gold in ’21 and her silver last year, and it is clear that she is putting together a career that will be regarded as legendary, if it isn’t already.
With her return to where she won her Olympic gold — then in a nearly empty stadium, this time in front of a packed venue — Moon painted the perfect picture of triumph under fire, pushed to the absolute limits by American Record holder Sandi Morris to claim a clutch victory by soaring 16-¾ (4.90).
Flush with joy, and with the weight of the season finally off her shoulders, she joined the Track & Field News Tours banquet to share her experience with the superfans present in an interview with NBC’s Paul Swangard. She shared additional comments made to our editor, Sieg Lindstrom.
The secret, said Moon, has been a steady progression of solid training and coaching, both in the physical act of leaping high in the sky and the mental side of trying to beat others at the game. “Year by year we’ve just built on not just me as an athlete physically getting stronger, getting faster, getting better technically, but really just becoming more mentally sound on the runway, telling myself what I want to do in high pressure situations,” she explained.
“And that just comes with repetition and years of having [Brad Walker’s] good coaching and he really just taught me how to think on the runway. And so in those high-pressure moments, all I’m thinking about is how I’m going to clear the bar and not, ‘Don’t mess this up, this is huge.’
“It really is just keeping it very tunnel vision because it’s very easy to mess it up. But, yeah, it really is a testament to him and just the way he’s coached me. And year by year, I feel that I’ve been able to build on my confidence with him.”
The progression of the bar in Tokyo was, some felt, a bit on the aggressive side, opening at 14-7¼ (4.45) before jumping to 15-3 (4.65), then 15-7 (4.75), with 5cm increments after that….
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