Pole vault star Kenna Stimmel opens up about mental block that led to medical retirement

Kenna Stimmel was an All-American pole vaulter as a freshman at Virginia Tech and won a gold medal at the Pan American Games. It was a great start to her college career, but behind the smiles and trophies she was suffering in silence, and has been since April of 2023. The Margaretta High School graduate — one of the most decorated athletes to call Erie County home — soldiered on and attacked what she described as a mental block with the help of family, friends, coaches and sports psychologists. She had hopeful moments while attempting to regain her form, but grew frustrated when she couldn't rely on the tenacity that made her one of the top vaulters in the country. "I know I'm not the person I was before when I was happy and enjoying the sport. I had hard conversations with people who are very close to me and care about me," Stimmel said last week in an interview with the Register. "Between conversations with my family, close friends, my sports psychology staff here and my coach, we came to the conclusion that it would be best for my mental health and my health in general to medically retire and step away from the sport." Stimmel made that difficult decision last November, conceding that her health was more important than the track & field career that she loved. "At that point it, was harder for me to wake up every morning and do the sport that anything else," she said. Stimmel agreed to discuss the issues that have haunted her for nearly three years in order to bring some closure to her outstanding pole vaulting career. She also hopes to help others coping with mental health issues. "It's definitely taken awhile to be able to talk about it," she said. "I know it's becoming more of a thing to protect mental health, but I want to tell my story so people don't look down on it if someone is going through something. I know there are other people who do have situations like this and they think it's just quitting if they stop doing what they're doing. "I thought that for a long time. I finally came to the conclusion after reflecting on everything for a few months that it's not quitting, it's putting yourself first." Stimmel, who announced her decision on social media Monday night, said it has been difficult to let go of her identity as an athlete. That's how many people know her: state champion, record holder, NCAA Division I standout. "A lot of people when I first meet them, they're like, 'Oh, you're Kenna Stimmel, you're the pole vaulter.' I know that's how people recognize people," she said. "I want it to be known that people are more than the athlete or their accomplishments. "Some may still be judgmental about it, but you never know what someone else is going through. You could look at someone and think they're so happy and there's nothing going on. I feel like there could've been people seeing me like that when I came home from college. But I've been fighting this mental block and struggling so much — and no one knew." Burned in Texas Stimmel's last full season competing was in the winter, spring and summer of 2023, and she enjoyed plenty of success. She placed fourth in the pole vault at the NCAA indoor meet that year, clearing 14 feet, 5.25 inches. She placed eighth at the outdoor national meet with a height of 14-1.25. Stimmel capped a memorable year by winning the U-20 gold medal at the Pan American Games in Puerto Rico that August with a 14-1 effort. "It was honestly a great time," she said of her freshman year. "I loved my training partners, I loved my coaches. I loved everything down here (in Blacksburg, Va.) and had success on different levels." But something was off. Stimmel said she began to doubt herself after competing for Virginia Tech at the Texas Relays on April 1, 2023. As she always did, Stimmel attacked the runway and the bar. Her speed for years had proven to be an asset in a sport that demanded a fearless approach mixed with precision and grace. She finished third in the pole vault in the Elite category in Austin, clearing 14-7.25 on her first try. That tied her career-best effort. Then the bar went higher, to 14-9. "I was going for a PR (personal record) bar," Stimmel said. "I had a lot of adrenaline and ran a lot harder. When I took off, my hands slid down from the top of the pole and I kinda ripped off. I was holding at 14 feet in the air and my hand just slides all the way down the pole. With the pole being fiberglass and the wrap that's on it, it burned my fingerprints off. "That was only my second attempt. I had one more attempt and thought I'd be fine. I did the exact same thing my third attempt. My hands ripped off the pole and I burned my fingerprints off to the point where I had rips on my hands." Stimmel landed on the padded mats, then looked at her hands. "My fingerprints were all gone, skin ripped off. It hurt really bad," she said. "I couldn't fully open my hand or close my hand. It was kinda stuck in a position for a little bit. I just like burned my hands." The fallout was excruciating. "That's where my doubts and lack of confidence kind of started," Stimmel said. "Since I was in the middle of the season, I had to pick up and move on. We had a meet in California the next week. I thought, 'OK, I just gotta move on.' "Things were fine at the next meet. It was an injury for sure, but it was more of a mental injury than a physical injury." After the Texas meet, Stimmel was no longer comfortable with her aggressive "7 left" approach. She went to a "6 left" the rest of the season, using a shorter pole and slowing down slightly on the runway while using fewer steps. "When I came back to practice after the California meet, for my 7 left jump I was having such a mental block where I couldn't take my jump up," she said. "I would just run down the runway and not go up into the air. I was having a mental block for that step specifically. We decided to come into a 6 left (one step closer)." She finished the season with more trophies and medals and draped herself in the American flag at the Pan Am Games. That August, she was all smiles while being honored at a parade in Castalia. Still, the three-time high school state pole vault champion — who cleared 14-6.25 in her final meet wearing Margaretta green — wasn't right. Needed break After some time off, Stimmel resumed training in the fall of 2023 at Virginia Tech. She had some good moments in the 2024 indoor season — recording a season-best vault of 12-6.25 at the Virginia Tech Invitational — but the incident in Texas lingered. "When I came back from fall training I started this rut," she said. "January 2024 was kind of when all of this started. I jumped indoor and it didn't go the best. I ended up redshirting my outdoor (sophomore) season." She took a break from vaulting but still trained, running and lifting. Stimmel thought that maybe her grueling freshman season had caught up with her. "I had such a long freshman season and thought it could've been a little burnout, so we decided to take the spring semester off from jumping," she said. "I came back my junior year and started jumping again in the fall (of 2024). It always got to that point where it went really well and we pushed something bigger in practice — either move back a step or move to a bigger pole. "Something would kind of break in me where I would just lose all of my self-confidence and my drive. I felt like I was so little to the world, honestly." She competed unattached (to preserve a year of eligibility) for the 2025 indoor season and competed in just one outdoor meet that year, failing to clear a bar in the pole vault. She also ran the 100 meters. "We were trying to see if doing multiple things like I did in high school would kind of distract my mind a little bit to where pole vaulting would go better again," she said. "It's something you can't really explain to someone unless they've had a similar situation. No one understands it like someone who's gone through it." Stimmel talked with sports psychologists and had heart-felt conversations with her pole vault coach Bob Phillips, a legend in the sport who was an All-American himself years ago at Virginia Tech. "We obviously wanted this to go how it went my freshman year, but we didn't know what to do because it just kept going in waves of good and bad," Stimmel said. Stimmel came home in the summer of 2025 and worked at the Erie County Health Department. She also returned to her roots, working out at Altitude Headquarters in Bellevue under the watchful eye of her father, Brian, who was her first pole vault coach. Again, she experienced mixed results. "This used to be a sport that I loved so much," she said. "Now it was hard for me to get up and go to practice. I just wasn't myself, which was really hard to see. It affected me in all aspects of my life." Stimmel returned to Virginia Tech last fall and resumed her workouts. The last time she pole vaulted was during a practice in early November. "Things went well at the beginning," she said. "But the more I kept jumping and the more we made bigger changes to try to get me back to a competitive level, the worse things got. The more we pushed, the worse my mental health got with the sport." She met again with Phillips and made the decision to step away from the sport. "He was very supportive," Stimmel said. "I brought up that what's best for me and my mental health is kind of taking a step back and medically retiring. The first thing he said was, 'Now all we have to do is finish your degree and graduate from college.' He said some sweet things and said he was there for me no matter what. He didn't try to push me into something that wasn't good for me mentally." Bright future Stimmel was comfortable with her decision to prioritize her mental health, but that didn't make retiring from competition easy. "The first time it hit me was when I got back to school after Thanksgiving break," she said. "I was organizing my room and I came across all my Virginia Tech jerseys and my Team USA jersey. That was really hard to process because I will never wear these again." Stimmel wants to stay involved with Tech's team and plans to help out with the Hokies' vaulters this indoor season. "I'm not separated from the team; I'm still technically on the team," she said. "I still want to support all my teammates. There are some of them I've been with for four years." Her teammates have shown support and welcomed Stimmel when she helped out at two meets earlier this month. "The first one I was a little bit nervous; I didn't know how I'd feel," she said. "Honestly, I was a lot happier at the meet. There were no stressors. I was told by multiple people that I looked happier and freer. Everything was a lot lighter for me. That kind of let me know this was the decision I needed to make." Stimmel turned 22 earlier this month and will graduate in May with a degree in public health. She plans to move back home and look for a job. She also wants to coach, and her background as a standout diver, gymnast, volleyball libero and, of course, track & field athlete will be invaluable. Stimmel, who started pole vaulting when she was in the third grade, did some coaching the last two summers and discovered fulfillment as a teacher and mentor. "That has just brought the love for my sport back, but in a different way," she said. "It brings back the light and joy that I had for the sport once. I'm so excited to coach when I get done with college. "I had great resources down here and a really understanding coach. I want to be that for another kid. I want to be the light to a little kid and the reason they love a sport or want to try a sport." Stimmel played them all and has and stood on podiums throughout the country. She was the national high school pole vault champion in 2021 and won state titles for Margaretta in 2019, 2021 and 2022, setting a state record at 14-6.25 as a senior. A pandemic in 2020 was the only thing that prevented her from winning four state titles. Stimmel will still be recognized as a great pole vaulter and her records likely will stand for years, but what she's gone through has equipped her to cope with what lies ahead. "It taught me that I am a lot stronger than I thought I was," she said. "Learning to be able to handle things like this, and knowing I can make the right decisions and come out happier has me set up knowing I can go through challenges in life and be fine and know everything will be OK."