Alysha Newman (born 29 June 1994) is a Canadian track and field athlete specialized in pole vault.
Newman's first sport was gymnastics, which she was forced to abandon at the age of 13 after injuring a lower back vertebra. After one year off sports where she considered ice hockey and diving, she chose track and field, and was directed by a coach to vaulting due to her gymnastics background.[1] In 2013, she joined the Eastern Michigan University, soon becoming Mid-American Conference champion and competing in the NCAA tournament.[2]
She competed in the Pole vault event at the 2014 Commonwealth Games where she won a bronze medal.[3] Afterwards, she was transferred to the University of Miami,[4] following her coach Jerel Newman. Newman graduated in 2016, majoring in exercise physiology with a minor in nutrition.[2]
Newman successfully cleared 4.60m at the University of Miami's Hurricane Alumni Invitational on 9 April 2016, breaking the University of Miami school record, Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) record, and the Canadian National record in the women’s pole vault. The 4.60m vault ranked Newman as fourth in the world in women's pole vault at that time.[5] In June, Newman won the silver medal at the 2016 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
In July 2016 she was officially named to Canada's Olympic team.[6] Competing in the Olympics, Newman only vaulted 4.45 m in qualification and missed the finals.[7]
Newman competed at the first ever "Vault the Park", a street vault at Victoria Park during the annual Rib Fest in her hometown of London, Ontario. She successfully cleared 4.61, topping her own Canadian women's record.
She bettered her own national record at the Hurricane Alumni Invitational at the University of Miami on 8 April 2017 where Newman vaulted 4.71m in Coral Gables, Florida.[8] In August, she was a finalist in the 2017 World Championships in Athletics, finishing seventh by vaulting 4.65 m.[9]