“Anna Hall on the outside in 8th. Right there with Sidney McLaughlin-Levrone,” said the voice coming out of the devices that streamed the 400 meters of the Miami Grand Slam Track. Donning an all-red Adidas outfit, the track and field athlete took her mark in lane 8 and jolted faster than the wind when the bang came. The woman held the lead for around 300 metres before McLaughlin swooped in and took the lead to win the race in 49.69 seconds. Hall finished second with a time of 51.68. After her third-place finish in the 400m hurdles, this was her second race in Miami GST. But this phenomenal performance to win 30k in GST came after a long time, perhaps after her 2024 injury. And what does she have to say?

“If asked, I would definitely come back when I’m available. I think the next one I’m going to be busy doing half over in Europe. But, um, I really like the format,” said Hall, the former track and field NCAA champion in the post-race press conference. For her to be in the next Grand Slam Track in Philly later this month, she would have to be invited. Though, she has already promoted her presence in the Hypo-Meeting, which is to be held on May 31st and June 1, the same days as the Philly GST.

In the conference uploaded by Citius Mag over on their YouTube channel, Anna Hall was asked to describe her experience, which she said was good. She was also asked if she felt confident to which she replied, “Last year I was so focused on the pain that I was having when I was competing and overcoming that. I really just forgot how to compete, how to relax and like compete like Anna.” The 24-year-old sustained an injury back in January 2024 during her training which mandated an immediate surgery. Though she returned to the 2024 Tom Jones memorial, she confessed to be feeling back on track after a long time since the injury after the GST races this weekend, also citing her 400m as the best effort.

The race is also useful for the former track and field NCAA champion, since other than the Hypo-Meeting that is to be held in Götzis, she also is slated to compete in the 2025 Adidas Atlanta City Games, that is set to take place on Saturday, May 17, at Piedmont Park. “I think the fact that I learned how to do that again would be really helpful for both Susie and Atlanta” she said.

The 800 meters in the World Athletics Championships, Budapest 2023, was her last race before injury struck. The athlete finished in first place with a time of 2:04.09 and when she came back in the 2024 season, it took the heptathlete 6 events across different sports of track and field to reach that number one again. This definitely stirs the pot on how bad her injury really was.

What happened to Anna Hall?

As the Olympic season gained speed with the dawn of 2024, American track and field star Anna Hall faced a devastating setback. A training mishap in early January resulted in a serious knee injury that threatened to derail her Olympic hopes. Back then, she took to Instagram to announce that, “earlier this month i had a small knee procedure… everything went smoothly, i am already well on the mend, and should be back on the track in a bit!”

She continued, “it breaks my heart to be passing on the indoor world championships next month, but this was something we needed to do now in order to focus on the olympics 🤞🏽“. To keep her focus on the most grandeur stage of all, following her injury, she had to withdraw from the 2024 World Indoor Championships. But did the sacrifice pay off at the Olympics?

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Hall finished fifth in the women’s heptathlon with a total of 6,615 points. She recorded a strong time of 2:04.39 in the final 800-meter event. Her performance placed her behind medalists Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium, who secured her third consecutive Olympic gold with 6,880 points, Katarina Johnson-Thompson of Great Britain with 6,844 points, and Noor Vidts of Belgium, who took bronze with 6,707 points. “5th hurts, bad,” she had said back then on X.. “Trying hard to be proud of the fight we gave these last 2 days and last 7 months.“