Built Through Setbacks: Michelle Atherley on Injuries, Identity, and Growth

In this episode of Becoming Uncommon, Coach Richardson sits down with Team USA heptathlete Michelle Atherley—a NCAA pentathlon national champion, elite combined-events competitor, and one of the sport’s most thoughtful voices on what it really takes to thrive.Michelle’s journey is unreal: South Florida → Port Charlotte High School → Auburn → University of Miami, where she built into a champion and earned her degree in Political Science plus graduate work in Public Administration and International Public Administration.On the track, she’s hit the world stage—competing at the 2022 World Athletics Championships—and she won the World Athletics Combined Events Tour (2024), with a heptathlon personal best of 6465 at Götzis.But this conversation goes deeper than results. Michelle opens up about:How she went from multi-sport kid (gymnastics/soccer) to heptathleteThe mindset shift that helped her turn “trash long jump” into a pride eventTrusting coaches with big changes (including relearning key technical pieces after injury)Balancing elite athletics with demanding academics—and the leadership lessons that came with itHer take on how to make track & field mainstream (hint: storytelling + consistent structures)What comeback training looks like right now—and what she’s building beyond sport📍Follow Michelle: @ms.i.do.it.all (Instagram)Subscribe for more conversations with athletes, coaches, and builders chasing uncommon growth.