Anna Hall knew that Darius Slayton could sense she was “nervous.”
With the 2025 World Athletics Championships approaching in September and the 24-year-old athlete striving to secure her first-ever gold medal in the seven-event heptathlon, the veteran Giants receiver, 28, made the most of a two-day break from training camp to visit her, a 36-hour trip that remains the newly engaged couple‘s “most meaningful” yet.
“It’s definitely not easy, but I’m really proud of us and the way we make it work,” Hall recently told The Post of her relationship with Slayton, with whom she got engaged in November after more than a year of dating.
“… Right before Tokyo [where this year’s World Athletic Championships took place], Darius, I know he could tell I was really nervous. I wasn’t saying that, but just, we talk every day, and he was like, ‘I just felt I needed to come see you,’ and they had literally a two-day break in camp, so he flew here [to Florida] for 36 hours just to fly right back up, and I’m sure so tired and obviously he’s busy with what he’s got going on preparing for a season. But he was like, ‘I just knew I needed to see you before you left,’ and I think that’s probably our most meaningful trip because I really did need to see him.”
Savoring every moment spent together has long been a priority in Hall’s and Slayton’s relationship as they balance the demands of their respective careers.
“I think we do a really good job of putting each other first,” Hall said.
The support Hall felt from Slayton and her circle propelled her across the finish line first in the women’s 800-meter — the seventh and final event of the two-day heptathlon that also consists of the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200-meter, long jump and javelin throw — as she became the second American woman to win gold at the World Athletics Championships.
It came 32 years after her mentor, decorated hepathlete and Olympic gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee, last won for the U.S.
“I think the biggest thing I was feeling was just relief because, my first year as a professional, I was third, but at the time, that was almost a victory cause it was a surprise. And then every single year since then, the last two major championships were both letdowns,” said Hall, who won silver at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest in 2023 and bronze in Eugene, Oreg., in 2022, the year she went pro.
“Those feelings of crossing the line at the 800 and knowing that I didn’t get the result that I wanted, and you’re in this giant stadium going on this — the heptathletes do this big lap, it’s somebody’s victory lap, but it wasn’t mine. And so, I remembered how terrible that was to be in this big, grand stadium, it’s supposed to be the best moment of your life and to not be happy.”
Hall, who finished atop the podium with a score of 6,888 points, felt the relief wash over her as the victory lap taken on Sept. 20 was hers.
“So relieved and super thankful for all the people that were supporting me, especially Jackie, because she knew I could do it, and they all from the outside knew I could do it, so I was like, ‘OK, I’m so happy that I proved you all right,’ and was able to make them proud,” she said.
Currently in the midst of wedding planning — “Enjoying what that’s thrown at me and my mom and my fiancé’s mom, so it’s been fun” — Hall is also balancing life as a proud dog mom to pup Cross, whom she adopted last year to join her family’s dog, Emma.
“I think my favorite thing about having a dog and having Cross as part of my everyday life and routine is that, no matter what, there’s a part of my day that’s just about him and just the time that we get to spend together,” Hall said.
Having Cross, whom she fuels with Nulo pet food that’s packed with animal-based protein, has been beneficial for her emotional well-being as he eases her mind from all-track at all times.
“It’s so easy as an athlete to get stuck in the cycle where every single thing I do all day, eating, sleeping, training, and it’s all about track. Cross kind of is my escape from that. We get to go play fetch and have fun, or we go for a walk,” she said.
“… We need to do those things together every day, so it kind of keeps me accountable to make sure that I’m always spending time kind of away from the sport each and every day, which is super healthy for me.”
As Hall reflects on the whirlwind of the last two years, which included a fifth-place finish in the heptathlon at the 2024 Paris Games, she’s looking to carry lessons learned from past experiences into 2026 and beyond, especially with the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles on the horizon.
“The biggest takeaway, honestly, is just the experience,” Hall said of her first-ever turn as an Olympian. “There’s truly nothing like the pressure, kind of all that’s being asked of you, leading up to the Olympics, in the village, it really is like a pressure cooker of an environment. So, the biggest thing I’m taking away is that I know what to expect, there’s no surprises come L.A., and I think that makes you all the better prepared, but it took me a while to get here.
“I didn’t finish how I wanted to in Paris with my knee injury [which she underwent surgery for in January 2024] and a fifth-place finish, and I viewed that as such a failure. I still do really, but I think coming back this year and being healthy and winning, beating a lot of the same girls, it showed me where it’s like, ‘OK, you just need to be healthy,’ and so, that is now my No. 1 priority going through L.A., where I would rather be 80 percent ready and 100 percent healthy than the opposite. I’m making better decisions in training because of it.”
Although focused on their own crafts when it comes to training, Hall revealed that she and Slayton tend to fall into a similar regimen together.
“I don’t think there’s ever been a time when we’re both off, so one of us is always in routine and structure, and I think it has actually helped us both cause we kind of stay on those good habits. I might be off, but he has to go to sleep at 9 p.m. because he has to be up at 6 a.m., so then by nature, I just kind of stay on the good habits as well,” Hall shared.
“… We both enjoy watching each other’s practices, which we do as much as we can just to maximize time together. I think it’s fun to learn about a completely different sports world and truly understand what each other’s going through.”
Slayton, a 2019 fifth-round pick with the Giants, has three games remaining this season.
