Mark Blinch/COC
“These heights are new for me but it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while now.”
Alysha Newman put on a brilliant show at the Stade de France Wednesday night, winning Canada’s first Olympic medal in women’s pole vault. The intense competition at Paris 2024 pushed the 30-year-old to improve on her previous national record of 4.83m as she soared to a mark of 4.85m to capture an Olympic bronze medal.
The three-time Olympian looked focused in the early going, easily clearing the opening height of 4.40m.
“It’s been five years since I’ve been in a final, so for me to jump back-to-back within 48 hours was a challenge for me,” she said afterwards.
For Newman’s second jump of the competition, she just clipped the bar with her chest at 4.60m and playfully gestured to the crowd that she had missed it by “that” much, using her thumb and forefinger to show by how little. The gymnast turned pole vaulter adjusted for the second try and cleared the height with ease.
Newman continued to smile and enjoy the crowd. As the bar was raised to higher heights, Newman appeared to relax into the competition, encouraging the crowd to clap along and flashing great big smiles before and after her vaults.
Handily making it over 4.70m, the impressive height would prove too much for many of the other 18 pole vaulters in the extra large final.
Newman, who’s Instagram bio line reads, “𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗦𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗔𝗥,𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗚𝗢”, cleared the bar on her first try at 4.80m. And then she was only one of five women left in the competition.
There were technical delays, as officials told competitors a brief timeout was necessary in order to recalibrate the electronic distance measurement machine (EDM), which measures the height of the bar, but Newman did not appear to be bothered by the timeouts.
Newman, who no-heighted at Tokyo 2020 three months after suffering a concussion, missed her first attempt at 4.85m, a height she had never cleared in competition.
Newman has been open about her battles dealing with the effects of her brain injury and mental health issues that developed following the concussion.
“I had brain problems. I had a brain health issue. There’s mental health, and there’s brain health,” she said. “I wasn’t happy. I didn’t like the sport at that time, and it was a struggle for me. I needed to step away, be happy off the track, so then I learned to love track again and then fix my mental health.”
Newman has been chasing an Olympic medal since her debut at Rio 2016.
“This whole year, I’ve been leading up to this moment. It was so funny because I felt like I missed out in Tokyo, missed out in Rio. I just wasn’t at my best, personally, on and off the track. This year I said, I’m going to put it all in one basket. I’m putting all track and field in this basket, and it worked out.”
Following thorough consultation with her coaching team, who were faithfully recording and reviewing each of her vaults, they agreed on a minor adjustment and Newman was back on the runway, calling on the crowd at Stade de France to clap along and energize her second attempt at 4.85m.
The adjustment proved correct and Newman cleared the bar. With a scream of delight, she established a new Canadian record. But the competition wasn’t quite done, as she took three shots at 4.90m, a height only cleared by Australia’s Nina Kennedy to become Olympic champion. Though the bronze would be hers, Newman had to wait several minutes before all the results were official.
As she recounted: “You have to still wait and sit there and wait till the other girls are done and I was like, awkwardly standing there, like, what do I do? Do I celebrate, do I kiss everyone, do I cry?”
The wait was well worth it, as Newman inked her name in the history books as Canada’s first Olympic pole vault medallist in 112 years.
“It was a surreal moment. It was awesome. I feel very emotionally stable right now,” she said. “Everyone was saying if someone was going to do it it would be me and I’m so happy I lived up to that expectation.”
