Katie Moon opens up on condition pole vaulters face similar to Simone Biles' twisties

Katie Moon spoke candidly about a condition the pole vaulters experience, drawing parallels to Simone Biles' "twisties." Moon highlighted the condition, saying it can create a sense of disconnect between an athlete's mind and body, making it difficult to execute jumps.

Moon is a two-time Olympic medalist. At the 2020 Tokyo Games, she clinched a gold medal in the pole vault event after registering a stunning clearance of 4.90m to surpass Anzhelika Sidorova and Holly Bradshaw, who cleared 4.85m each.

Three summers later, at the Paris Games, the American pole vaulter followed Australia's Nina Kennedy to bag her second Olympic medal, a silver one. Moon has also been a world champion twice consecutively.

However, the American pole vaulter's journey hasn't been without challenges. She faced several moments of mental disconnection, akin to Biles' "twisties," experiencing a "vaulting block," which she highlighted during her candid conversation in an episode of the I'll have another with Lindsey Hein podcast on October 11.

"We have a version of that where you just...you are coming in and there's just kind of deer in headlights, red light...no, no, no and you just run in the pit," she said. "It's awful, it is the worst feeling I dealt with that throughout various stages of my career and I think, to be honest, I'll always be held on to a bit of that for no real logical reason, which is annoying because it's one thing if you have an injury or you crash or something happens to cause that, I never did," she said. (20:28 onwards)

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"I'm so, so relieved and happy" - Katie Moon expresses her joy in securing a silver medal at the Paris Games after an injury-ridden season

Katie Moon of the United States competes for the Women's Pole Vault during the Weltklasse Zurich as part of the Wanda Diamond League in Zurich, Switzerland. (Photo by Getty Images)

Speaking to Olympics.com in an exclusive on September 04, Katie Moon voiced her disappointment at not being able to defend her pole vault title at the Paris Games, but expressed relief with the performance, especially after a difficult season plagued by an Achilles injury.

"I would have loved to defend my title, I tried very hard to do that. But I'm so, so relieved and happy with how it went. Once I was here, I was just praying that my body would hold up because I really felt like I was capable of jumping high and doing something great again, as long as my body played ball, and I'm just so, so happy that it did," Moon said (via Olympics.com).

Katie Moon is poised to compete in her next event during the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, Japan.