Demi Payne (born September 30, 1991) is an American

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete whose specialty is

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

ing. She is the daughter of American pole vaulter

Bill Payne William H. Payne (born March 12, 1949) is an American pianist who, with Lowell George, co-founded the American rock band Little Feat. He is considered by many other rock pianists, including Elton John, to be one of the finest American piano roc ...

. Payne competed collegiately for

Stephen F. Austin State University } Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) is a public university in Nacogdoches, Texas. It was founded as a teachers' college in 1923 and subsequennly renamed after one of Texas's founding fathers, Stephen F. Austin. Its campus resides on part ...

. She competed in the pole vault event at the

2015 World Championships in Athletics The 2015 IAAF World Championships ( zh, 第十五届世界田径锦标赛), the fifteenth edition of the IAAF World Championships, were held from 22 to 30 August at the National Stadium in Beijing, China. Forty-three nations won medals, 144 of ...

in Beijing, China. Demi Payne won gold medal on March 1, 2015

2015 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships The 2015 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships was held at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Boston, Massachusetts. Organised by USA Track and Field (USATF), the three-day competition took place from February 27 to March 1 and serve ...

Pole Vault with a height of . She won a bronze medal June 28,

2015 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The 2015 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships were held at Hayward Field, University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. Organized by USA Track and Field, the four-day competition took place June 25–28 and served as the national championships in ...

Pole Vault with a height of Her personal bests have been indoors. She set her personal best in

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

at 4.75 on January 24, 2015, which ranked her tied with

Kylie Hutson Kylie Nicole Hutson (born November 27, 1987) is an American track and field athlete who competes in the pole vault. She was the national champion in the event in 2011 and represented the United States at the World Championships in Athletics in 2011 ...

for the fourth best American in history. On February 6, 2016, she improved upon that, first clearing a new personal best 4.76 to break the tie and to move into a tie for third with

Sandi Morris Sandi Morris (born July 8, 1992) is an American pole vault record holder. She won the silver medal in the pole vault event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She also won silver at the pole vault event at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics an ...

. But on the same day Morris jumped 4.80 in

Joplin, Missouri Joplin is a city in Jasper County, Missouri, Jasper and Newton County, Missouri, Newton counties in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bulk of the city is in Jasper County, while the southern portion is in Newton County. J ...

. Then Demi had the bar moved to 4.82, which she cleared on her second attempt. That jump put her in a tie for the tenth best performer worldwide, and was only one centimeter behind the second best American,

Olympic Gold medalist This article lists the individuals who have won at least four gold medals at the Olympic Games or at least three gold medals in individual events. List of most Olympic gold medals over career This is a partial list of multiple Olympic gold medalis ...

Stacy Dragila Stacy Renée Dragila (née Mikaelson; born March 25, 1971) is an American former pole vaulter. She is an Olympic gold medalist and a multiple world champion. Early life Dragila was born and raised in Auburn, California, northeast of Sacramen ...

. Then she had the bar moved to and cleared it on her first attempt. In one afternoon, she moved up the all time list to tie former world record holder

Svetlana Feofanova Svetlana Yevgenyevna Feofanova (russian: Светлана Евгеньевна Феофанова; born 16 July 1980) is a Russian pole vaulter. Svetlana Feofanova was born in Moscow, Soviet Union. She has studied at the Finance University unde ...

for the fourth best female pole vaulter in history. Two weeks later, Payne confirmed her position at the 2016

Millrose Games The Millrose Games is an annual indoor athletics meet (track and field) held each February in New York City. They started taking place at the Armory in Washington Heights in 2012, after having taken place in Madison Square Garden from 1914 to 2011 ...

. In a close competition with

Katerina Stefanidi Katerina Stefanidi (Greek: Κατερίνα Στεφανίδη; born 4 February 1990) is a Greek pole vaulter. She won the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics with a jump of 4.85 meters and has also competed at the 2012 London and the 2020 Tokyo ...

, both athletes moved up the list, both clearing on their second attempt. Stefanidi won the competition because Payne took more attempts to clear her opening height of 4.50. Stefanidi's previous personal best had been 4.77m from a year earlier. New Braunfels and Stephen F. Austin pole vaulter Demi Payne hasn’t fully recovered from a thumb injury sustained in April 2016 as of July 8, 2016. She grew up with a pole vault pit in the back yard, but didn't start vaulting until her sophomore year of high school. Payne first attended the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

for two and a half years where she was a mid-13 foot vaulter, but never made it to 14. "I went out on the weekends and I pole vaulted during the week and it really wasn't No. 1 for me." She said she got more focused while training after she learned she was pregnant. She gave birth to daughter Charlee on October 22, 2013. After transferring to Stephen F. Austin, to be closer to her family, she began marked improvement. She set the

indoor Indoor(s) may refer to: *the interior of a building *Indoor environment, in building science, traditionally includes the study of indoor thermal environment, indoor acoustic environment, indoor light environment, and indoor air quality *Built envi ...

and outdoor NCAA records at the time, though both the outdoor pole vault record was surpassed by

Doping

In August 2018, the

United States Anti-Doping Agency The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA, ) is a non-profit, non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization and the national anti- doping organization (NADO) for the United States. To protect clean competition and the integrity of sport and prevent ...

revealed Payne tested positive for a banned substance,

drostanolone Drostanolone, or dromostanolone, is an anabolic–androgenic steroid (AAS) of the dihydrotestosterone (DHT) group which was never marketed. An androgen ester prodrug of drostanolone, drostanolone propionate, was formerly used in the treatment ...

, in 2016 and received a 4-year ban, backdated to March 31, 2016 and forfeited every result from March 12, 2016 on.

Competition record

USA National Championships

NCAA

Stephen F Austin competition records

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Payne, Demi 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from New Braunfels, Texas Track and field athletes from Texas American female pole vaulters World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States Kansas Jayhawks women's track and field athletes Stephen F. Austin State University alumni USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners Doping cases in athletics American sportspeople in doping cases