Local teen Hailey Stubbs recently won a gold medal in the hammer throw at the Athletics Victoria State Championships and will now go on to compete at the Athletics Australia National Championships in Sydney from March 26-April 3.
The 13-year-old Sacred Heart College student started competing in shot put in primary school athletics and later made it to the School Sports State Championships.
The following year she added discus to her brief and after joining the Kyneton Little Athletics Club progressed to the state championships in both shot put and discus.
While COVID has caused a lot of disruptions to the athletics calendar over the past 18 months, the Kyneton teen continues to work hard on the training track and since joining the Bendigo Harriers Athletics Club, has also added the hammer throw to her events.
Despite having only competed in the hammer throw for a short time she placed second at the Athletics Victoria Victorian Country Championships on January 28 and went one better, placing first at the Athletics Victoria State Championships on February 19.
Following her success at the recent state event, Hailey is currently ranked number one in the state in the Under 15 Hammer and in the coming weeks is looking forward to competing in the Athletics Victoria Shield League Playoffs at Lakeside Stadium, the Athletics Victoria Throwers Meet at Werribee, and the Athletics Australia National Championships in Sydney where she will compete in the Under 15 and Under 17 Girls Hammer.
Hailey has also qualified to represent Kyneton Little Athletics at the Little Athletics Victoria State Championships in discus after finishing second at the Regional Championships in Albury on February 12 and 13.
However, the athlete has opted not to compete in the state championship round in order to prepare for the nationals.
Hailey’s success in the hammer to date is remarkable considering she only took up the discipline less than five months ago.
“It had to wait until I was old enough to compete in the hammer for the Bendigo Harriers as its a senior athletics event,” Hailey said.
During her first season of hammer competition she has broken the Bendigo Athletics Centre record on two occasions throwing 38.13 metres on December 11 and 39.03 metres on February 5.
The following day the teen threw an incredible personal best of 41.09 metres at a throwers meet in Sandringham smashing her Bendigo records.
To top it off last week she was named joint Under 14 Girls Field Champion at her Bendigo Club.
Hailey said she was grateful for the incredible support she had received from her coaches, clubs and family and hoped to do them all proud.
We look forward to seeing what Hailey can achieve on the national stage later this month. The sky is the limit!
