Pole vaulter Moon excited about special Tokyo return

TOKYO :As an Olympic and double world pole vault champion - once famously sharing the gold - Katie Moon has seen and done it all, and she said on Friday her preparation is not about to be derailed by a sub-optimal experience on arrival in Tokyo.

Moon detailed her annoyance on social media after being forced to wait hours for her hotel room, got kicked out, and then reinstated on a long first day ahead of the world championships.

Settled and refreshed on Friday, however, the 34-year-old American was in far more positive mood as she looked forward to competing again at the stadium where she won her Olympic gold without any fans watching in 2021.

"It's frustrating, this was not very smooth coming in. I think putting everybody at the same hotel was maybe not fully thought through," Moon told a press conference.

"But I'm in a room now and settled and I'm just excited to be back and to see that stadium filled with people is going to be pretty special, really incredible.

"More than anything, my family will get to be there. Any time I get to compete and they're in the stands, I tend to do better."

Moon is seeking a third successive world title having shared the 2023 gold with Australia's Nina Kennedy, who beat her into silver at last year's Olympics but will be absent from Tokyo because of a leg injury.

In an echo of the men's high jump at the Tokyo Olympics, where Mutaz Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi shared gold, the two exhausted women did the same, upsetting some observers in the process.

"It was a really incredible experience, one that makes that world championships just very special, very memorable in the grand scheme of my career," she said.

"I've had a lot of people ask, 'would you do it again?' and I don't know. We'd been there