From Injury to Olympian

“To me, the Olympics is the pinnacle of sport. I feel every athlete no matter the sport wants to be there and obviously I wanted to go, but I didn’t know pole vaulting was going to be the way I got there.”

Anicka Newell, a dual citizen of both the United States and Canada, spent her childhood growing up in Albuquerque, New Mexico with the dream of becoming an Olympic level gymnast. 

Newell had competed in gymnastics since she was just two years old and has always been athletically gifted. However, a back injury when she was 14 ended her gymnastics career prematurely.

It was not until Newell’s junior year of high school that she found the sport that would eventually fulfill her dreams of being an Olympian. 

“My track coach said, ‘hey we need a female pole vaulter and you were a gymnast. I think you would be great at this,’ so I gave it a try and it was absolutely the right decision.” 

Because of the lack of pole vault coaches in New Mexico, Newell’s dad found her a camp in Texas to attend, which led her to meeting her future coach, Brookelyn Dickson. 

At the time, Coach Dickson was the volunteer coach for pole vault at Texas State and ran a pole vault camp with her dad in Yoakum, Texas. That is where her and Newell’s relationship first began. 

After occasionally working together for two years and Newell winning the decathlon at the Great Southwest Meet, which is a meet made up of high school track and field state champions from all over the country, coach Dickson was set on making Newell a Bobcat. 

“I would give the Texas State coaching staff recommendations of people who I’d seen at different meets and just put them on their radar,” said Dickson. “I said this girl is going to be really good and has the potential to be an amazing pole vaulter.”

At the time, Newell was vaulting 12 feet, which was good for a high school vaulter, but it was not at the elite level coach Dickson knew she could get Newell to. 

“I had some girls jumping a lot higher, but I thought this girl (Newell) could jump even higher, she just needs time,” said Dickson. “So she was still in the potential category, but she jumped high enough that she could come to Texas State.” 

Newell found success in the pole vault early in her career at Texas State and placed second overall at both the indoor and outdoor Western Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships her sophomore year. 

In 2014, Newell’s junior season, she broke the 13-foot mark for the first time in her career and won her first Sun Belt Conference Outdoor title in the pole vault. The success she found in her junior season flipped a switch for Newell and made her realize she could go from a good pole vaulter to a great pole vaulter going into her senior year. 

Her senior season was full of vaults over 13 feet and she started to inch closer and closer to the 14-foot mark, which was something that had never been done at Texas State before. 

It was not until it was time for her to defend her outdoor pole vault title at the SBC Championships that Newell broke the 14-foot mark and set a new Texas State record of 4.28m/14-0.5, while also claiming her second consecutive SBC title in the event. 

Not only did the 14-foot vault set the record for Texas State, but it got her closer to the qualifying standard for the Olympic Games of 14 feet, 9 inches.

“Because of the momentum I gained my junior and senior year at Texas State I felt I could be a really strong pole vaulter and jump 15 or 16 feet,” said Newell. “I had jumped 14 feet at the end of my senior year and the mark to go to the Olympics was only nine inches away, so I didn’t know if we would be able to gain nine inches by next summer, but we had to try.” 

With the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio approaching, Newell competed every chance she got and steadily moved closer and closer to the 14-9 mark. It wasn’t until her 10th meet of 2016 that she finally hit the 14 feet, 9 inches mark and qualified to represent Canada at that year’s Olympics. 

“2016 was insane. That was my first international competition, and I was so young and overwhelmed by everything,” said Newell. “Being in the Olympic village, seeing the world’s best athletes and then walking out into that arena, I can’t even put it into words. It still gives me the goosebumps to this day.” 

Five years after her first Olympic appearance, Newell and Coach Dickson had their sights on the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which were postponed a year due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2016 and 2021, Newell solidified herself as one of the best in the world and was now consistently vaulting over 14 feet, 9 inches regularly. 

She started 2021 with a new personal-record clearance of 4.70m or 15 feet, 5 inches and went on to record eight more vaults over the Olympic qualifying standard before heading to Tokyo for her second Olympic appearance. 

“Tokyo, I have a lot of good to say about it. I was more mature and prepared for Tokyo and I was a different athlete at that point of time since it was five years later,” said Newell. “It was also disappointing, because of the covid regulations. I remember my other big world competitions and the roar of the crowd when you walk out into the venue, but you walk out into Tokyo and it was basically just crickets.” 

Despite the regulations and the lack of spectators, Newell made her first Olympic finals appearance after placing first in the qualifying round with a vault of 4.55m. She became the first Female Texas State athlete to make the finals in the Olympics since Brigitte Foster-Hylton did so in the 100m at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Heading into 2024, Newell still has the same fire and emotion for the sport as she did when she started competing professionally eight years ago. She continues to learn and do what it takes to keep her body healthy to stay competing at such a high level. 

She learned earlier this month that she had would be competing for Team Canada for the third time at the 2024 Paris Olympics, after placing second in the pole vault at the Bell Track and Field Trails.

Newell will also be the second female Texas State track and field member to appear in three Olympics. The only other Bobcat to accomplish the feat is Foster-Hylton, who competed in the sprints at four Olympic games with Team Jamaica.

“I just broke down bawling. This year in some ways has been the best year of my life with track and field but it’s also been a heartbreaking year,” said Newell. “With the injury and everything I have gone through during the outdoor season, just to see my name and know it’s official that I am going to my third Olympics. It was a lot of emotions, because this is going to be the last one for me, there’s not going to be a fourth Olympics.” 

Heading into Paris, Newell feels like this is the most mentally ready she has been for an Olympic Games. 

“My Mindset is so strong right now and I’ve come such a long way on the mental side of things, which is key for pole vaulting specifically,” said Newell. “I have that experience to back it up, so I know I won’t go out there and completely choke from all the pressure I am going to be under, because I know what to expect.” 

Despite an Achilles injury during her outdoor season, Newell still had a successful year performance wise leading up to her second-place finish at the Canadian Olympic Trials. She competed in 12 meets this season, placed second or better eight times and recorded 7 vaults at or over the Olympic standard. 

With August 7, the day Newell competes at the 2024 Paris Olympics, quickly approaching her and Coach Dickson are spending the final weeks fine tuning and goal setting, so she can go out there and be the best possible version of herself. 

“You know, there are people who could have or should have made the Olympics but didn’t,” said Dickson. “She earned her spot and she is there, now she’s just going to make the best of it and go have fun getting to fly for the third time. She always says what she loves about pole vaulting is just getting to fly.” 

When Newell discussed some of her goals for this year’s Olympics, she talked about getting into the zone by enjoying the experience and remember that you are doing something that you love, but her ultimate goal is simple.

“I’m trying to be on that podium, I want an Olympic medal.”