How Evelyn Bliss has gone from Union/A-C Valley track team to doorstep of World Athletic Championships berth
Evelyn Bliss is learning not to underestimate herself.
But that’s difficult when she keeps blowing by her target.
The former Union/A-C Valley athlete and Bucknell University rising junior has put together a summer to remember at track and field competitions stretching from Eugene, Or., to Germany. And it may not be done for a while.
Bliss won her first USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships women’s javelin title Aug. 1 with a top throw of 189 feet, 6 inches (57.77 meters), an experience she called “absolutely exhilarating.” That came not long after she finished second (188-2, after a qualifying personal best of 199-6) at the FISU World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany. And before that, she claimed her second Patriot League javelin gold and was named an NCAA Division I Second Team All-American for the second time.
Up next is the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Championships in Freeport, Bahamas. If she can repeat her performances at FISU and nationals — making the final flight and throwing around 60 meters — she could earn the final 20 points in the world rankings she needs to qualify for one of 38 spots in the World Athletics Championships in September in Tokyo. She was ranked 46th as of Thursday.
“Before Germany, both my goals for both meets was just to make the final flight,” Bliss said Thursday on the phone.
She and Bucknell throwing coach Ryan Protzman have spent hours discussing her short- and long-term goals. Entering college, after a decorated career with Union/A-C Valley’s track team, she had goals to just make nationals and a second U20 Team USA appearance.
This spring, Bliss set a goal to throw 60 meters during her junior year.
Check, check and a resounding check. She’s a national champion, finished sixth at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials, and her throw of 188-2 (60.81 meters) in Germany is the best U.S. women’s throw this year and Top 10 all-time.
What now?
“My goals have changed drastically in the past three weeks, even,” Bliss said. “I think a realistic goal of mine is to make the Worlds team and make the finals there.
“I struggle a lot of imposter syndrome. ... Coach Protzman has helped me realize with the work and time I’ve put in, (I’m good enough).”
Now, she said she can sit back and say, “Wow.”
Bliss had the top throw in Oregon heading into the finals after three rounds and therefore earned the right to throw last in Rounds 4, 5 and 6.
But she didn’t expect her lead to hold. Protzman reminded her to be ready to respond once someone, they assumed, threw better than her 188-2, as happened in the final round in Germany weeks prior.
But as Bliss counting down each thrower before her in the final round, none cleared her mark. Her sixth throw didn’t matter.
“I took my last throw, it landed, I wasn’t happy with it,” Bliss said. “And I stood in the runway and turned around, and everyone was applauding. I stood there for a second and was like, ‘What do I do now?’”
She found her coach and parents in the stands and ran to them. “I was just stunned,” she said.
It’s been a dramatic leap for a three-sport high school athlete from a small high school program who was throwing a javelin 90 feet at 17 years old. She’s more than doubled that and become one of the best in the country. She credited the tutelage and confidence of Protzman, a Moniteau graduate, and her ability to devote all of her athletic efforts just to javelin to hone her form.
“I wasn’t raised with all these fancy runways and (equipment),” Bliss said. “It’s been grit and determination.”
The NACAC championships run Aug. 15-17. Bliss said Thursday she expected to fly to the Bahamas a few days before but was awaiting the schedule. The world championships, featuring around 200 countries and more than 2,000 athletes will be held Sept. 13-21 in Tokyo.
