Hall joins Joyner-Kersee as U.S. heptathlon champ

TOKYO -- Anna Hall became the United States' 2nd victor of the satellite heptathlon rubric -- joining Jackie Joyner-Kersee -- by wrapping up a wire-to-wire endurance trial and cruising into the decorativeness enactment Saturday to observe her biggest victory.

It's the archetypal large rubric for Hall, 1 of the world's astir accordant performers successful the seven-part event, aft years of adjacent calls and disappointments.

Three years agone astatine worlds, she won bronze. Two years ago, she mislaid the rubric by a scant 20 points, falling little than 2 seconds abbreviated successful the past event, the 800 meters, from taking the gold. Then, past year, she was forced to unreserved backmost from an Achilles wounded to get acceptable for the Olympics, wherever she finished fifth.

On a calm chill evening connected Day 8 of the satellite championships successful Tokyo, Hall yet made it to the top.

Among her biggest fans is Joyner-Kersee herself, who has said she sees imaginable for the 24-year-old from Colorado to rewrite immoderate of the past she inactive owns.

Joyner-Kersee is the lone U.S. jock to triumph the lawsuit astatine the Olympics (1988, '92) and she holds some the satellite grounds from 1988 and the grounds astatine satellite championships from her triumph successful Rome successful 1987.

Hall cracked the vaunted 7,000-point people astatine a conscionable successful June and a tally astatine JJK's records looked successful play implicit the 2 days successful Tokyo.

Any hopes determination got tripped up by a less-than-great agelong jump, but the wide effect was ne'er successful uncertainty arsenic she finished with 6,888 points. Hall went into the last event, the 800 meters, with a 122-point borderline implicit eventual metallic medalist Kate O'Connor of Ireland, and arsenic 1 of the fastest runners successful the 20-woman race, cipher was going to drawback her.

Defending champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson finished successful a uncommon necktie for 3rd spot with American Taliyah Brooks. They finished precisely 3.61 seconds isolated successful the 800 to some extremity up with 6,581 points.