More than 8,000 athletes from 111 countries converged in Gothenburg, Sweden, for 11 days in August to compete in the World Masters Athletics Championships (WMAC), an annual competition for track and field, cross country and road-running athletes ages 35 and up.
Among those 8,000 athletes, 600 of whom were from the U.S., was longtime track and field athlete and Onalaska High School track and cross country coach Carla Hoppie.
Competing in women’s age 65-70 pole vault, Hoppie won her first ever gold medal this year at the age of 67.
Sitting down with a Chronicle reporter on Tuesday, Hoppie recalled looking through the list of registered entrants in her category several months before the event and realizing she had a higher jumping average than her competitors.
“Right away I was like, ‘Hold on, I’m jumping way higher than anyone else in this group. This can’t be,’” Hoppie said. “ … On paper, I was supposed to win, but anything can happen in this event.”
Hoppie has been a track and field athlete since her days as an Centralia High School student in the 1970s. Primarily a runner, Hoppie began competing in the WMAC heptathlon in 1988 at the age of 35.
When she took over as head coach for the Onalaska track and field program in about 2014, Hoppie decided to bring back the school’s pole vaulting program, which was in place while Hoppie was a student but had since been discontinued.
“That’s what got me started (in pole vaulting), because I’m more of a hands-on coach. If I don’t know how to do something, then I don’t feel like I can coach it very well,” Hoppie said.
Prior to deciding to coach it at Onalaska, Hoppie’s experience with pole vaulting was limited to watching her son’s college practices.
“I never, ever, ever thought I would do anything like that, because it’s scary,” Hoppie said of pole vaulting.
For the sake of better coaching her athletes, Hoppie learned the basics of pole vaulting from a Chehalis coach.
“I did a little bit of vaulting at that point and was able to show kids and entice girls, like, ‘Hey, I could do this,’ but I wasn’t doing anything special,” Hoppie said.
It was only after Hoppie returned from WMAC competition in Spain in 2018, where she won a bronze medal for the heptathlon, that Hoppie decided to take pole vaulting more seriously.
“When I came back, it was August, I said, ‘I want to be inside, but I don’t want to just be in the weight room lifting weights. I want to do something else,” Hoppie said.
Since the NW Sports Hub in Centralia has an indoor pole vaulting club, Hoppie decided to dedicate more time and effort to pole vault training.
“It’s so much fun. I almost don’t want to do any other events,” Hoppie said.
This year’s WMAC competition in Sweden was Hoppie’s first since her bronze medal in Spain in 2018. She decided not to compete in the heptathlon this year due to a calf injury, but decided to go ahead and compete in the pole vault.
“The crowd was incredible … It was loud and exciting, and I’m like, ‘How am I going to handle that?’ Because I get pretty hyped up,” Hoppie recalled. “... But it was OK. I didn’t get overly nervous. I kind of surprised myself.”
Though she now has a gold medal to her name, Hoppie is still training in pole vaulting and the 800 meter sprint in preparation for the 2025 WMAC, which will be an indoor competition in Florida.
Hoppie’s two sons will be old enough to compete in the WMAC in 2025, and the three plan to attend the competition together.
“I’m just going to get stronger. I’m going to work on my skills,” Hoppie said.
Of track and field, Hoppie said, “I just love the sport. It made a big difference in my life and it can make a big difference in other people’s lives. Whatever your passion might be, you just have to find it. It can turn you around.”
For more information on World Masters Athletics, visit https://world-masters-athletics.org/ .
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