Pole vaulter Katie Moon wins her first Diamond League trophy with a meet record
Reigning Olympic champion and two-time world champion Katie Moon won her first Diamond League trophy Saturday at The Prefontaine Classic. Photo by Bee Trofort-Wilson
By Israel La Rue
Reigning Olympic champion and two-time world champion Katie Moon won her first Diamond League trophy Saturday at The Prefontaine Classic, setting a meet record of 4.86 meters to end her outdoor season.
“I have wanted to win this for so long,” Moon said. “I haven’t been able to do it yet. So I’m just really, really ecstatic that I finally got that trophy.”
Moon’s last event was three weeks ago, when she shared a gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest with Australian Nina Kennedy.
Kennedy ended her day early, finishing fifth with a jump of 4.56m. There was a big progression to 4.71 after that height, and she failed to clear it.
Runner-up Tina Šutej of Slovenia made the first two marks on her first attempts. She and Moon needed two attempts to clear 4.71, which Sandi Morris, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist, cleared on her first attempt.
Morris ended her day at 4.71 and in third place. After failing on her first attempt at 4.81, she elected to pass and go to 4.86. She missed both attempts at the higher height.
“I’ll take my result with a grain of salt because I know I’m ready for bigger bars,” Morris said. “But at the same time, I jumped 4.71 today. That was a good mark for how the season was going this year.”
Šutej set a personal best at 4.81 and tried to go even higher at 4.86.
“I’m happy that I ended the season in the finals and it’s gonna be easier to start training for next season,” Šutej said.
Moon said the conditions were great other than a little bit of wind, and the results reflected the great conditions as she jumped over the last two marks (4.81 and 4.86) on her first attempts. After winning the competition at 4.86, Moon decided to end her day.
“I honestly didn’t realize it was the meet record,” Moon said. “So it’s really cool to have people tell me afterward what it was. Because I just came in wanting to jump as high as I could.”