New heights! London’s Alysha Newman keeps her cool, vaults into Olympic final

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PARIS — Alysha Newman found happiness long before she found herself in the Olympic pole vault final here.

But as content as she was, the London native needed to jump beyond the devastation of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, when she no-heighted in qualification, a performance that hastened a downward spiral that was both personal and professional.

“It ate me up until they told me I made this final,” an elated Newman said Monday morning at Stade de France. “A lot of people don’t know I haven’t made a final since 2019, and it’s been eating away at me for five years and it’s emotional and it’s hard, because it’s not like someone wakes up and says I want to pole vault every day.

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“There has to be some fire and there has to be some passion behind it. And my environment, that’s who makes me keep coming back. My coaches. They see me more than I have ever seen myself and without them I definitely would not have kept pushing. I laughed. I said this might be my last (Olympics) but I don’t know. I’m having fun and I just turned 30, so maybe I’m entering a prime when I thought I was in my prime before. It might be a new type of prime.”

She competed in Tokyo in the wake of a concussion suffered after she fell in a bathroom three months earlier in Des Moines, Iowa. She was there for the Drake Relays and slipped while getting into a bathtub for a shower, hitting her face on the faucet.

Lingering effects of the concussion and the subsequent devastation of Tokyo conspired to send her reeling. She told a reporter for The Athletic in 2022 that she began drinking to excess before and after those Games to deal with crippling anxiety that she believes was brought on by the concussion.

Three years removed, she is back on track, and credits her coaches and the help of Dr. Daniel Amen, a California-based neurologist who has given her rare insight into brain health that she uses as a competitive edge.

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“I don’t get upset anymore. I used to base a lot of my vaulting off of emotion and I think that’s where I have grown so much with my neurologist this year. It’s been incredible to work with someone who is so in-depth, not with mental health, but brain health. It’s a different thing. It’s taking care of the brain.

“I’m going to go get a flush after I’m done and then I’m going to take a nap and I’m going to have a 10-hour sleep tonight. It’s a different way that I’ve looked at the vault and my athletic career and I’m pretty stoked on having that edge because I know a bit more about the brain and how my brain works on the runway.”

She roared down that runway on Monday and was one of 11 women to clear 4.55 metres. World Athletics regulations stipulate there has to be at least 12 athletes in the final, so everyone who cleared 4.40m on the first attempt was also included. In a bit of a shock, Great Britain’s Molly Caudery, the reigning world indoor champion, failed to advance after no-heighting.

Newman came in at 4.40m and missed her first attempt, but she didn’t panic, she merely adjusted.

“I was nervous. This is my third Olympics, they don’t get easier as they come, I’ll tell you that right now,” she said. “What was cool about this experience is, I’m adaptable now. I’m very flexible when things don’t go as planned.”

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She geared up to a bigger pole and was so far over the bar at 4.55m that she looked capable of equalling her personal best of 4.83m set indoors in February, or at the very least matching the 4.75m she has cleared five times this year. In other words, she should be in the mix in the finals on Wednesday.

“I keep hearing O Canada in my dreams, so whatever that means,” she said.

Qualifying for the final at these Games means she can forget about Tokyo, forget about a string of disappointments dating all the way back to 2019, long before the concussion, and focus on delivering here.

Newman, who attended Mother Teresa secondary school in London, has proven an ability to rise up on the big stage, having won Commonwealth Games gold and bronze, as well as Pan Am Games bronze. She has also finished fifth and seventh at world championships. She was 17^th at Rio 2016 in her Olympics debut, but has learned much about herself and her event since.

“I’m ready to go out and show everybody my actual, real technique, and I know I’m one of the best technicians in the world, and I’m ready to show that on Wednesday,” she said.

dbarnes@postmedia.com

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