Background
She is the daughter of January Johnson, who won three National Collegiate Athletic Association championships and a bronze medal in the pole vault at the 1972 Summer Olympics.
She is the daughter of January Johnson, who won three National Collegiate Athletic Association championships and a bronze medal in the pole vault at the 1972 Summer Olympics.
Two years earlier she had placed fifth in the 300 hurdles, behind future World Championship performers Lashinda Demus and Nichole Denby. At the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin, Johnson tied for silver alongside Monika Pyrek of Poland with a jump of 4.65 metres. Johnson did not qualify to compete in the pole vault final, finishing in 11th place in the qualification round.
She decided to retire from the sport at the age of 27, saying that her enthusiasm for competition had waned.
She won the silver medal at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, but retired from the sport two years later. Coached by her father while at Atascadero High School in central California, Chelsea won the pole vault at the 2002 CIF California State Meet. As a college athlete at University of California, Los Angeles, Johnson is a two-time National Collegiate Athletic Association champion, having won the pole vault at the 2004 National Collegiate Athletic Association Track and Field Championship and the 2006 National Collegiate Athletic Association Indoor Track and Field Championship. The following year, she won at the Millrose Games and was selected for the 2010 World Indoor Championships.
