Anna Hall ties for second all-time in heptathlon points

American Anna Hall has posted a heptathlon score bettered by only one person in history — her mentor Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

Hall won the famed Hypo Meeting in Götzis, Austria, with 7,032 points on Saturday and Sunday — moving from fifth to tied for second on the all-time list.

“The last heptathlon I did before this broke my heart,” Hall said of her fifth-place finish at the Paris Olympics, according to World Athletics. “But I feel like this heptathlon healed it.”

Joyner-Kersee, the 1988 and 1992 Olympic gold medalist, holds the world record of 7,291
points and the top six scores in history overall.

Hall matched Swede Carolina Klüft, the 2004 Olympic gold medalist, who also scored 7,032.

Hall’s previous personal best was 6,988 at Götzis in 2023.

In the two years between Hall’s two Götzis victories, she took silver at the 2023 World Championships — 20 points behind Brit Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the closest heptathlon in world championships history — while competing with a knee injury.

After January 2024 knee surgery, she competed in Paris on a knee that she said was strong, but not pain-free. Belgian Nafi Thiam won an unprecedented third consecutive gold in the seven-event competition.

Neither Johnson-Thompson nor Thiam competed at Götzis.

Come September, Hall can become the second American to win a world title in the heptathlon after Joyner-Kersee, who did so in 1987 and 1993.

Jacory Patterson hopes to make enough money in sprinting to quit his UPS job.