Meet Gabriela Leon and the Kentucky contingent going to World Athletics Championships

Tim Sullivan, Louisville Courier Journal
·6 min read

Gabriela Leon believes there is room at the top.

The University of Louisville’s champion pole vaulter has cleared 15 feet, 1 inch in competition, but says, “My technique, honestly, is not good.” The recent U of L graduate will compete in the World Athletics Championships this week at the University of Oregon as an athlete teeming with potential, but relatively short on refinement.

“In reality, I think she’s just getting started,” said Brooke Rasnick, U of L’s vaulting coach. “She has a lot of areas she can keep improving at. (But) she has a vision for it now. She wants to be one of the best in the world and she has the talent to be that. So it’s going to be exciting to see over the next six or so years, what that looks like for her.”

First in the NCAA outdoor championships and fourth in USA Track and Field’s national outdoor meet, both held in June in Oregon, Leon earned a third trip to Eugene for the World Championships when American Alina McDonald chose to skip the meet for religious reasons because the pole vault finals are scheduled for July 17, a Sunday.

Though Leon’s competitive best is 18 inches short of the bar Katie Nageotte cleared to win the Olympic gold medal last year, it is also eight inches higher than the vault Nageotte made to win her NCAA Outdoor title in 2013. At 23 years old, ranked No. 26 in the world rankings as of July 5, Leon’s trajectory suggests a still-rising star, both literally and figuratively.

See more: Watch the vault that won Gabriela Leon Louisville's first NCAA women's track & field title

University of Louisville pole vaulter Gabriela Leon. Leon will compete in the World Athletics Championships. July 8, 2022
University of Louisville pole vaulter Gabriela Leon. Leon will compete in the World Athletics Championships. July 8, 2022

Since the spring of 2021, Leon has set U of L’s women’s pole vault record and later improved on that mark by a full foot. She has raised her competitive ceiling this year by trading her 14-foot pole for a model seven inches longer, by improving the speed and consistency of her 16-stride approach, by applying more pressure with her top (right) arm for additional spring in planting her pole and, she says, with an improved mental approach that finds her “making every single day count.”

“Just this morning I was driving somewhere and I was thinking, ‘How did I get here?’ ” Leon said Saturday. “I can’t believe it. I’m just so grateful. My goals list at the beginning of the year was short, and I look at my goals list now cause I have the list written out and it’s grown exponentially as the year’s gone on.”

For elite vaulters, improvement can be agonizingly incremental. Sergei Bubka broke the men’s world record 17 times between 1984 and 1994 but only twice raised the bar by more than an inch at a time. Yet Australian Emma George, the first woman to clear 14 feet in competition, became the first to clear 15 feet just 27 months later. American record holder Sandi Morris added nearly a foot to her personal best in her first year as a professional.

More track reading: How Kentucky track star Abby Steiner turned injury, Olympic heartbreak into record season

Leon’s goal for the World Championships is to qualify for Sunday’s finals by finishing among the top 12 in Friday’s preliminaries, but her long-term aims are more ambitious. She expects to be able to add at least another foot to her personal best, possibly in time for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

U of L's pole vaulter Aliyah Welter Gabriela Leon prepares to perform a pole vault jump during a practice at the Cardinal Track Stadium in Louisville, Ky on July 9, 2022.
U of L's pole vaulter Aliyah Welter Gabriela Leon prepares to perform a pole vault jump during a practice at the Cardinal Track Stadium in Louisville, Ky on July 9, 2022.

“I have the capability of jumping much higher,” she said. “I just haven’t.”

“She’s still kind of figuring out the top end of her vault: how to stay tight to the pole, swings and turns,” Raskin said. “She’s made progress, but there’s still a lot of things that she can get better at. One of her weaknesses is being aware of what’s happening in the air. She doesn’t have that gymnastics background. (So) Trying to learn those things and for her to understand what’s happening kinesthetically takes a little bit longer.”

Time, happily, is her ally. The other two vaulters who will represent Team USA in Oregon, Nageotte and Morris, are 31 and 30 years old, respectively. Leon is the youngest of the top 10 American women in the world rankings.

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“The way I look at this is as long as I stay healthy and stay motivated, I want to go through at least, hopefully, the 2028 Olympics,” she said.

Another goal for her growing list.

“Months ago, I didn’t think I would be at this point,” Leon said. “This season’s already been amazing. I don’t want to be too greedy.”

U of L pole vaulter Gabriela Leon gets her arm taped up by her teammate Aliyah Welter before practicing at the Cardinal Track Stadium in Louisville, Ky on July 9, 2022.
U of L pole vaulter Gabriela Leon gets her arm taped up by her teammate Aliyah Welter before practicing at the Cardinal Track Stadium in Louisville, Ky on July 9, 2022.

In addition to Leon, other athletes with Kentucky ties who will be competing at the World Athletics Championships include:

Christian Coleman, men’s 100 meters

The reigning world champion missed the Tokyo Olympics because of a suspension triggered by missed drug tests. Though he is from Atlanta and competed collegiately for Tennessee, Coleman is reportedly training in Lexington.

Andrew Evans, men's discus

Twice the Southeastern Conference's outdoor champion while competing for the University of Kentucky, Evans qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and finished 16th.

Shamier Little, women’s 400 hurdles

Born in Louisville, before moving to Chicago as a child, Little competed collegiately for Texas A&M and won three consecutive NCAA titles at 400 meters from 2014-16. She won a silver medal in the 2015 World Athletics Championships in Beijing.

U of L's pole vaulter Aliyah Welter Gabriela Leon performs a pole vault jump during a practice at the Cardinal Track Stadium in Louisville, Ky on July 9, 2022.
U of L's pole vaulter Aliyah Welter Gabriela Leon performs a pole vault jump during a practice at the Cardinal Track Stadium in Louisville, Ky on July 9, 2022.

Shelby McEwen, men's high jump

Runner-up in the 2018 NCAA Division I meet while competing for the University of Alabama, McEwen is a volunteer coach for the University of Louisville. He placed 12th in the high jump at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Daniel Roberts, men’s 110 hurdles

Former University of Kentucky hurdler finished ninth in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and first in the 2019 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Abby Steiner, women’s 200 meters

Before turning professional, the University of Kentucky sprinter won the USA Outdoor Track and Field and NCAA titles last month, recording the fastest time by a female 200-meter runner this year.

Get to know her: Record-setting Kentucky Wildcats track star Abby Steiner

Ben Williams, men's triple jump

Gold medalist in the 2009 World Youth Championships, Williams is a British-born athlete who competed for the University of Louisville from 2013-16. He will be competing for Great Britain at the World Championships.

Tim Sullivan: 502-582-4650, tsullivan@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @TimSullivan714

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Meet the Kentucky athletes going to the World Athletics Championships