Eight years ago, Ashland University senior
Katie Nageotte won her two NCAA Division II national championships – one indoors, one outdoors.
Fast-forward to Thursday (Aug. 5) in Tokyo, Japan – and the culmination of almost a decade of hard work, and the reward of an even bigger prize.
Nageotte, the No. 1-ranked women's pole vaulter in the world this outdoor season, proved it once again on Thursday, winning Olympic gold for Team USA with a top vault of 4.90 meters/16-feet-0¾. Russian Anzhelika Sidorova took silver at 4.85 meters/15-feet-11, and Great Britain's Holly Bradshaw took bronze at the same height.
"During my warmup, my quad on my takeoff leg was really tight, like grabbing tight, and so it took more trips down the runway just to warm it up," Nageotte said, as told in a story on Yahoo! Sports. "So my warmups were not great and I think that kind of went into my first couple of attempts. But once I got going...
"It's everything that any one of us here has ever dreamed of. I think especially with pole vault, it's a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck and I'm just so grateful that it went my way."
Nageotte earned the fifth United States women's pole vault medal since 2000, following Stacy Dragila (2000 gold), Jenn Stuczynski (2008 silver), Jenn Suhr (2012 gold) and Sandi Morris (2016 silver). Nageotte's vault on Thursday was further than any other American women's pole vault medalist.
On Thursday, Nageotte missed on her first two attempts at 4.50 meters, the first height of the day, then missed the first attempt at 4.70 meters, but cleared both 4.80 and 4.85 on the first attempt.
At the United States Olympic Track & Field Team Trials on June 26, Nageotte not only won going away to qualify for the Summer Olympics, but her top vault of 4.95 meters/16-feet-2¾ is tied with Sidorova for the third-best in world history outdoors. Only Russian Yelena Isinbayeva (5.06 meters/16-feet-7¼) and Morris (5.00 meters/16-feet-4¾) have vaulted higher outdoors.
Of the top six women's outdoor pole vault performances in 2021, Nageotte has four of them.
Nageotte was a two-time NCAA Division II national champion and three-time D-II All-American as an Eagle. She joins fellow AU track and field alums
Jackie Jeschelnig Ulm (2004) and
Kibwe Johnson (2012 and 2016) as Eagles to represent Team USA at the Summer Olympics this century.
The head track and field coach at Ashland,
Jud Logan, was a four-time member of Team USA at the Olympics (1984, 1988, 1992 and 2000).
AU
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