In 2025, Anna Hall came back from Paris Olympic heartbreak with, as she journaled, “my best version.”
That version of Hall: the joint-second-best heptathlete in history by total score and the second American to win a world title in the event after her idol, Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
“I think I dreamed it — but I definitely didn’t believe it — because I had things like this written down from a very young age,” Hall told NBC Sports’ Trey Hardee. “I had world champion. I had Olympic champion. I had goals that I’m still chasing written down.”
Hall must wait until 2028 to grab that Olympic gold medal — after placing fifth in Paris coming off injury.
But on Sunday, she can claim another global title in her World Indoor Track and Field Championships debut in the pentathlon (live on Peacock and NBCSN).
She can also become the second American to claim that crown after DeDee Nathan in 1999.
The five-event competition made its indoor worlds debut in 1993 in the latter part of the career of Joyner-Kersee, who never contested it.
Amid worlds prep, Hall also planned for her April wedding with New York Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton.
“It’s been a nice break from track to focus on that and just always have something good going in my life,” she said.
While she’s having a life-changing year, Hall often scrolls back to her first full pro season in 2023. Specifically, when she broke 6,900 points for the first time at the annual multi-event festival in Götzis, Austria.
“Even until this past year, I viewed that as my best meet, just because I didn’t believe I was ready for a score that I produced,” she said. “I scored about the same thing at the (2025) World Championships, but I knew I was ready for that. So in my brain, it’s like a lesser performance (to win 2025 Worlds), if that makes sense, because it’s like, if we’re going out of 100% all out, I was like, OK, I got a 90 (in 2025) versus back when I did it the first time, that was a 110% (in 2023).”
When Hall won Götzis in 2023, she looked primed to contend for gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Perhaps become the second American to claim an Olympic heptathlon title after Joyner-Kersee in 1988 and ’92.
Then Hall was slowed by knee problems at the 2023 Worlds (silver to Brit Katarina Johnson-Thompson in the closest one-two in history) and in 2024 (surgery that January).
“The confidence that I’ve gained from having to pull myself back from injuries and surgeries and really rebuild my confidence from ground zero and surprise myself sometimes, or let myself down sometimes and then keep going, is really the biggest thing,” she said. “Last year, heading into some of my best performances, I was like, I’m not sure if I’m ready. All this self doubt that I was battling, and then being able to pull out really great performances and get the win (at worlds) in Tokyo has really instilled in me where I’m like, we need to train that (mindset) out of myself. You’re not starting from ground zero every time. You know what you’re doing.”
