In 2010, Kara Winger (then Kara Patterson) was having the season of her life. At the 2010 USATF Outdoor Championships, she launched the javelin 66.67m/218-9 to claim the American record. In the decade to follow, a handful of throwers knocked on the record’s door, but none crept past it until Maggie Malone let a 66.82m/219-3 throw loose in 2021 and answered her own mark with a 67.40m/221-1 throw a week later. For the first time in more than ten years, the American record was not in Winger’s name - and she loved to see it. “It’s so cool to have been in a place where I’m like [javelin] is in good hands and this is good for the sport,” Winger said as she remembered watching Malone’s throw. At that point, Kara had already made the decision to retire the following year, knowing that regardless of performance, she wanted the chance to compete at a home World Championships in Eugene. At that World Championships on home soil, just hours down the road from her hometown of Vancouver, Washington, Winger made history as the first American woman to earn a World Athletics Championships medal in the javelin, throwing 64.05m/210-1 on her final attempt to earn silver. At 36, Winger was the oldest competitor in the field - something she’s grown very used to as she’s been the oldest elite women’s javelin thrower in the U.S. since she was in her mid-20s. “All of the sudden, these gaps have been filled and people are finding success later than people did when I was getting started at the elite level,” Winger said of the success of U.S. throwers like Ariana Ince, 33, and Malone, 28. “That’s the legacy that I'm most proud of.” Winger has certainly made her mark on the sport, and as a certified USATF official, she continues to push the sport to progress. While she considers herself a hobbyist, Winger knows, and has seen, the impact that each official can have on the sport. For Winger, the road to becoming an official started as an announcer with a similar goal - to give athletes the best possible experience she could. Winger was sure to bring enthusiasm, knowledge of the sport, and professionalism to the microphone each time it was in her hands, but she wondered how else she could impact a given competition. “[Announcing] turned into officiating,” Winger said. “It makes a difference when someone hustles in the field to retrieve an implement or pull tape or put the mark down so the cadence of the competition keeps going.” Winger became an official in 2017 and is now a USATF Association Level Official who works predominantly with the throws. Eager to watch athletes grow and succeed, she’s officiated at college, professional, and masters-level meets throughout her region. “What really attracted me to officiating, especially at these college meets, was athletes developing toward the elite level.” Winger said. At one of many meets she’s officiated at the Air Force Academy, Winger remembers officiating the weight throw as University of California, Berkeley standout, Camryn Rogers competed. “I thought, ‘This girl is going to be so good!’ but I just kept it all under wraps,” Kara explained of the experience. Rogers has since become an Olympic hammer throw finalist and world silver medalist for Team Canada. Winger also officiated at the Iron Wood Throws Invite, a meet she both organized and competed in on August 1, 2020, which happened to be the day Valarie Allman broke the American record (the first time) in the women’s discus. After winning the women’s javelin with a 64.44m/211-5 throw, Winger had a suspicion she’d torn her ACL a second time. “I'd already committed to officiating the rest of the day,” Winger said as she looked back on the experience. “I was running around the field and could feel my knee swelling, then Valarie threw 70 meters and my insides were so conflicted and complicated. From feeling sorry for myself to being so happy for her.”
Kara Winger takes a photo of Valarie Allman's disc following Allman's American record throw at the Iron Wood Throws Invite on August 1, 2020. Photo Credit: Lisa Allman
With photos to look back on, Winger says she’ll always cherish being a part of that moment for Allman - and while it’s special to her to be a part of those moments, that’s not her motivation. Instead, she prefers to fade into the background and allow the meet to run like a well-oiled machine. “You won’t notice me if I'm doing a great job,” Winger explained. “I want to make it as efficient and seamless as possible and facilitate those great performances. Each little moment like filling in the marks on the sheet is such a minute example of each athlete’s journey - and I get to be a part of that.” Many athletes can truly appreciate and value what a great official brings to the table in competition. Over the years, these experiences can have a major impact on an athlete’s career and Winger’s story is a prime example. There have been so many officials over the years to make a positive mark on Winger’s career, but the official who perhaps made one of the biggest impacts is Jeff Polhemus. As the dad of her then-Purdue University teammate, Polhemus’ ability to take off his ‘dad hat’ and put on his ‘official hat’ displayed a level of professionalism that still sticks out more than a decade later. As she began her own career as an official, she began to look to others like Richard Schornstein and Martin Johnson as examples. They often work together at Air Force Academy meets where the pair show up, fade into the meet, and re-emerge every now and then as they chat about the competition. “They’ve just been really, really good mentors and I’m lucky to live in a state where I have these great examples,” Winger said. Walking away from her final season with a World Athletics Championships medal, the American record, and a Diamond League trophy may be the icing on the cake, but these aren’t the moments that shape the way she sees her career as a whole. Being voted as Team USA’s flag bearer for the Tokyo Olympics Closing Ceremony comes much closer to summing it up. “People I’ve known at training centers forever - who were just like me, who weren’t medalists or in the limelight, who didn’t get the dream that they thought they would at the Olympic Games - said to me ‘your vote as flag bearer makes my experience feel more valid’,” Winger explained as she looked back on her biggest moments. In the same year as Allyson Felix - a champion for athlete mothers, Michelle Carter - a role model for body positivity, Winger is hanging up her ‘athlete’ hat. “It just feels very right to retire in the same year as Allyson and Michelle Carter, and Barbora Špotáková as well, the world record holder in the javelin,” Winger said. As she shifts to the next phase of her career, she’s not left wondering what else she could have done. Instead, she’s focused on how she can make an impact on someone else’s time as an athlete. “I just want to be someone who sees stories that aren’t told as much,” Winger said. “As an official, you’re lending the same attention to each athlete’s attempt for all six rounds. You want to give them value throughout the whole experience.” Winger is taking that same focus into her work as a Senior Director of Integrated Influencer Marketing at Parity, a company that aims to close the pay gap in sports by increasing sponsorship opportunities for women athletes. As she shifts into the next phase of her career, between her work with Parity and her work as a USATF Official, Winger’s mark on track and field continues to grow. If you’re interested in joining Kara Winger as a USATF Certified Official, click here to learn more.