2013 USATF Outdoor National Championships: This meet is "make it or break it" for women’s US pole vaulters. There are no second chances to make the world
team and no committee voting you through if you had a bad day. You have to be on top of your game on that
day, at that time, no matter what the conditions are. If you get ill or are injured, sorry, better
luck next time.
All of those things make USA’s one of the most important and
stressful meets of the year. Saying you
have to be mentally tough is an understatement…you have to be mentally FIERCE
in order to make it through this meet.
Leading up to this meet, that’s what was on my mind. Talk about some weight on your shoulders
huh? It was a must to put all of that
out of my mind. The day of the meet I
woke up refreshed, excited, and a little nervous. This was the day I had been waiting for since
the 2012 Olympic Trials. I wanted
redemption and to make that World Championship team.
I had one goal going into USA’s last Sunday(6/23/13):
1. Place in the top 3 in order to make the World
Championship team.
Height didn’t matter to me until I made the team. I wanted to stick with the plan and compete. The plan was to do what makes me the most
comfortable, which was to jump at 4.40m(14’5”), 4.50m(14’9”), and 4.60m(15’1”). I had been jumping those heights the last few
meets so that’s what I wanted to do.
Warm ups that day weren’t the greatest, but never the less,
I had my coaches Greg and Jeff telling me that I was fine. As the competition started I put my feet up,
relaxed, and visualized my jumps. I was
ready. I cleared 4.40m(14’5”) on my
first attempt! That first clearance is
always a huge relief. The bar went up to
4.50m(14’9”)…I blew through my pole on the first attempt, but came back with a
nice second attempt clearance. But now,
I was in 4th place. I chose
to pass 4.55m(14’11”) and go straight to 4.60m(15’1”) because that was the
plan. That was what I had been
visualizing in the weeks coming into USA’s.
This next bar was “do or die” for me.
I had to clear it in order to make the World Team. Putting all of that out of my head was
difficult to do, but I managed to calm myself during the few minutes I had to
rest between bars. I was up first…I
chalked my hands up…picked up my pole and thought, “Be tall, swing fast, and
let ‘er rip”. Success! I cleared 4.60m(15’1”) on my first
attempt! Wahoo! What an amazing feeling! I made the 2013 USA World Championship
Team. Yes! I had two good attempts at 4.70m(15’5”) and
one blow through at 4.75m(15’7”), but I didn’t care. My goal was to make The USA Team by sticking
to the plan. I ended up finishing 2nd
to Jen Suhr the 2012 Olympic Champion.
Women’s Team USA Pole Vaulters:
1. Jenn Suhr
2. Kylie Hutson
2. Becky Holliday
Men’s Team USA Pole Vaulters:
1. Brad Walker
2. Jeremy Scott
2. Jack Whitt
Congratulations to my fellow teammates! Can’t wait to see you all in Moscow!
So what’s next?
Well…I’m getting ready to go on a European circuit of
meets! There has been so much planning
since USA’s that I feel like it’s been a month since then, not just a week and
a half! I leave this Friday(7/5/13) to
go to Europe, and I have 5 meets planned before the World Championships in
Moscow, Russia in August. I’ll be
competing in France, Germany, Switzerland, back to Germany, and England. Then I will go to Team USA training camp in
Linz, Austria until we travel as a team to Moscow! My return flight back to the US isn’t until
the end of August, so this will be the longest I have ever been out of the
country! I’m excited, nervous, a little
scared, happy to continue jumping, sad that I’ll be away from friends and
family, and motivated to kick some Euro butt!
Haha! So many emotions. I just feel so blessed to get to go on these
adventures and see so many different countries, while doing something I love…pole
vaulting!
So my first competition is in Sotteville, France on July 8th!
Here is the link to the meet website:
Whenever I have wifi I will be sure to update all of my
social media about my adventures overseas!
Thanks for reading!
Kylie
@ratherBvaulting
www.facebook.com/pv.kylie
No comments:
Post a Comment