It appears as though Canadian pole vault champion and Olympic bronze medalist Alysha Newman has decided to retire from track and field. She has yet to make a formal announcement on her future in the sport but she is currently putting all of her focus into a new opportunity with Victoria’s Secret.
The 31-year-old wants to walk in the fashion show.
Newman is currently suspended from track and field for whereabouts failures, which directly coincides with her recent move to Los Angeles. Her focus is only on modeling.
Who is Alysha Newman?
Not to discredit her long list of accomplishments, but you probably know Newman as the pole vaulter who went viral for twerking at the Paris Olympics in 2024. Fair enough.
However, the Ontario-native is highly successful at her craft!
Newman set the University of Miami and Atlantic Coast Conference record in women’s pole vault while in college in April 2016. She won a silver medal at the Outdoor Track and Field Championships six months later and finished her career as a six-time NCAA Division I All-American.
The winning did not stop there! Alysha Newman won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2018 and a bronze medal at the Pan American Games in 2019.
And then the world shut down due to the pandemic.
That is when Newman decided to set up an account on OnlyFans. Her profile features exclusive content from training sessions, seductive photoshoots and day-to-day life. It helped to supplement her income while she was unable to compete. It also helped to grow exposure in (and of) the sport.
But Newman was not done competing! She returned to competition as soon as the world allowed and made her second appearance at the Olympics in 2021. Unfortunately, an injury derailed her medal hopes.
Fast forward to 2024. Alysha Newman qualified for the Paris Games and won silver.
She was the first Canadian in history to win an Olympic medal in pole vault. It was monumental.
From the Olympics to Victoria’s Secret!
Newman distanced herself from the sport after Paris. The Athletics Integrity Unit was not able to reach her for an unannounced doping control in February of 2025 and twice more in August.
The global anti-doping system requires athletes to specify a one-hour period each day where they will be available to give a sample for testing. Newman apparently did not do so. She also told a sample collection official that she “had to leave immediately to participate in the filming of a television game show” at the third of three incidents. That is against the rules.
Three “whereabouts” failures in a 12-month period can be prosecuted as an anti-doping rules violation. And sure enough, that is exactly what happened.
The AIU announced that Alysha Newman had been provisionally suspended from track and field this past February. It confirmed the ruling last Friday. She is banned from the sport for 20 months.
Except the ban probably doesn’t matter because Newman is probably retired from pole vault.
The 31-year-old recently moved to Los Angeles to pursue modeling full-time. Victoria’s Secret recently offered her a call back for the annual fashion show!
What a week for Newman! She was invited to audition for the most famous fashion show in the world (at least in terms of name recognition) on the same week that she was suspended for almost two years by the governing body of track and field for an anti-doping violation.