Garland Rises To No. 3 On All-Time U.S. List With 8,869 Points In Decathlon; Anna Hall Ready To Take Another Shot A Gold With Stellar 6,899 Heptathlon For 4th Straight Title

By David Woods for DyeStat

Becky Holbrook photos

EUGENE – A year late, but it’s never really too late. The versions of Kyle Garland and Anna Hall witnessed Thursday and Friday would have been in the mix for gold medals at the Paris Olympics.

But the combined events are that way. On to the next. Can’t worry about what’s happened because something else is coming up, and soon.

Garland and Hall are going for World Championships gold next month in Tokyo, and all but daring others to beat them.

“This time, I have something to prove, and I’ve got a big chip on my shoulder,” Hall said.

Garland was similarly defiant.

“I want everyone to come on and bring their best game,” he said, “because I know I’m coming with mine, too. The world better watch out because Freight Train’s coming.”

At the USATF Championships, Garland won his first national decathlon title with 8,869 points. That is third in U.S. history behind Ashton Eaton and Dan O’Brien, former Olympic gold medalists and world record-holders. Garland is No. 10 all-time.

Hall’s victory in the heptathlon, with 6,899 points, was similarly historic. It was her fourth in a row, something not done in women’s combined events at since the 1960s. And she has now scored that many points in three heptathlons – a figure exceeded only by Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s eight.

We forget Anna Hall is just 24.

Garland, 25, a Philadelphia native, nearly broke Eaton’s world indoor record in the heptathlon as a Georgia collegian two years ago. But in Garland’s past two major decathlons – 2023 worlds and 2024 Olympic Trials – he failed to finish.

He made up for that, and he knew he would as early as the second event, the long jump. He won with a distance of 25 feet, 10.75 inches (7.89m), and he had six wins in 10 events.

He “came to play,” as he put it.

“I think it might set in tomorrow, maybe. It’s incredible. But I mean, at the end of the day, I knew it was coming. So I’m excited to see the training finally pay off.”

Besides long jump (1,033 points), these were his other wins:

>> Shot put, 55-7.5 (16.95m), 910 points.

>> High jump, 7-0.25 (2.14m), 934.

>> 110-meter hurdles, 13.78, 1,003.

>> Discus, 167-1 (50.93m), 890

>> Javelin, 65.52, 214-11, 821.

Heath Baldwin, the 2024 trials champion, was second with 8,407 points. Harrison Williams was third with 8,223, making his third straight national team. Austin West was fourth with 8,162.

Zach Ziemek, 32, a 2022 world bronze medalist, and NCAA champion Peyton Bair both dropped out before the pole vault.

Garland has branded himself “Freight Train,” given his stature: 6-foot-5, 225 pounds.

“If I’m not afraid to fail, the best is yet to come,” he said.

Hall, after winning world bronze in 2022, was injured before 2023 worlds and coming off surgery at the 2024 Olympics. She scored 7,032 at Gotzis, Austria, on June 1, climbing to No. 2 all-time behind JJK.

She conceded she was not aiming for such a score again. She couldn’t help herself, winning five of seven events. She said she “ran a little bit safe” in the 100-meter hurdles, in which she fell and broke her foot at the 2021 Olympic Trials.

Personal bests in the shot put and javelin sent her close to 7,000 again.

“I feel like every heptathlon has its own story,” she said. “This one feels very special because I feel like I kind of got my spark back.”

JJK, who communicates often with Hall, was at Hayward Field to congratulate her.

“Honestly, it feels like a ‘pinch-me’ moment, even though she’s been there the last few years,” Hall said.

JJK is the only American to win world gold in the heptathlon, doing so in 1987 and 1993. She and O’Brien swept the combined events for Team USA in 1993.

Team USA potentially gets four heptathlon spots at Tokyo because Michelle Atherley was awarded a wild card. She completed four events.

Taliyah Brooks, four years after being felled by heat stroke here, was second with a PB of 6,526 points. Allie Jones was third with 6,164 and would have to be accepted via world ranking.

Notre Dame’s Jadin O’Brien, fifth with 5,991, next heads to a bobsled tryout in a bid to make the 2026 Olympic Winter Games.

In field event finals, the winners were Vashti Cunningham in the high jump at 6-5.5 (1.97m) and Isaac Grimes in the long jump at 26-9 (8.15m).

Joining Cunningham will be Sanna Barnes (6-4.25/1.94m) and Emma Gates (6-3.25/1.91m), both with PBs. Charity Hufnagel, the 2024 trials winner who didn’t have the standard for Paris, was fourth at 6-2 (1.88m).

Cunningham jumped into a tie for No. 5 in the world. At age 27, she has 16 national titles, nine indoors and seven outdoors. She is coached by her father, Randall, the former NFL quarterback.

“Today when I made 1.97, I just cried,” she said. “And I have never cried in a track meet for making a height. Only for missing. And when I went up to him, he was like, ‘Are you crying?’ And he was like, ‘I cried a little, too.’

“So it was just good that we feel the same, and we’re going through this together.”

Contact David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.