Track and field star Anna Hall makes her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue debut in the 2025, available to order and on newsstands Tuesday. Hall, who is the second-highest scoring American heptathlete of all-time, was a member of Team USA in Paris and is a two-time medalist at the World Championships, recording a silver in Budapest in 2023 and a bronze in Eugene in '22.
She won the heptathlon at the 2024 U.S. Olympic trials, which secured her spot on the Paris Olympics team. She placed fifth competing in the heptathlon in Paris, narrowly missing a spot on the podium after she underwent knee surgery in January 2024.
"The Olympics was very bitter sweet," Hall told SI Swimsuit during her shoot in Boca Raton, Fla, where she was photographed by Ben Horton. "For one, it was my first one so I was just thankful to be there. It was a lifelong dream that came true so that's something that I will always remember."
She hopes that her journey this past year is only the beginning and will help her reach and conquer the L.A. Summer Olympics in 2028 and beyond. The Denver native is no stranger to adversity, as she fought back from an ankle injury that kept her from the 2020 Olympic qualifiers before the knee surgery which nearly derailed her journey to the 2024 games in Paris.
"Not knowing what would happen, if I'd even be in Paris and then getting there and still holding onto the hope that we can still do this, not shooting for anything less than gold," she continued. "At no point was I going to concede and say 'We can't do it.' And to ultimately fall a little bit short hurt a lot. I'm hoping it's going to be that moment in my career that fuels a fire under me ahead of L.A. And it's going to be that moment where God says 'Not yet, but soon.'"
The U.S. Olympian began her collegiate athletic career at the University of Georgia but transferred to the University of Florida in 2022—the same year she turned professional, signing a contract with Adidas. While at UF, she helped lead the track team to the school's first NCAA women's outdoor team championship title.
She started competing in track and field events at just seven years old, when her father let her try her hand at the sport after she saw her older sisters competing. Although she started asking to compete when she was only five, her dad gave in a couple years later and one of his friends who was a coach taught her how to high jump, which became one of Hall's best events.
Through her SI Swimsuit debut, she wants people to take away that being strong is powerful and to see her for herself.
"One thing I always hope to do, whether it's sports, pictures, is I just hope that I radiate through whatever is being put out, so I just hope they see me," Hall said.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as U.S. Olympian Heptathlete Anna Hall Makes Her SI Swimsuit Debut.
