High Flier Patterson ready to jump in the deep end

Australia’s reigning world champion high jumper, Eleanor Patterson, said she’d hurl herself in at the ‘deep end’ to defend her world championship title after recovering from the injury that crippled her Australian summer.

The New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship athlete, who is training in Nice to prepare for August’s Budapest World Athletic Championships, will waste no time in pitting herself against the world’s best in the Diamond League meet in Silesia, Poland (July 16) and then Monaco (July 21).

She’ll do so after recovering from a fracture to her fifth metatarsal – the bone on the outside of the foot that connects to the small toe – which required surgery to use a titanium plate to help it heal.

Patterson, a two-time Olympian who has won a Commonwealth Games gold and silver medal, injured herself while doing drills before a competition in Slovenia  last February.

“I’m throwing myself in at the deep end, but I’m so excited to be competing,” said Patterson, who won her world championhip title by jumping 2.02 metres at last year’s world championships in Oregon.

“I’ve competed at that stadium before and it’s rally springy and fun, and, as I say, I’m just so excited to be able to get out there.”

Patterson said being assured a wildcard entry to the world championships which start on August 19, allowed her to focus on ensuring she could prepare properly to defend her crown.

“Being the world champion allows me a wildcard, and given how the injury has played out that allowed me to stay in Australia and prepare the best way possible and not rush to try and get a qualifier.

“I’ve been able to work through my process, my recovery with this foot injury post-surgery. From the day I had surgery it was six months from the final at Budapest – not that I’ve been counting [laughs] – but I’m really excited about the competition.”

Patterson said she had been charting the incredible progress of fellow NSWIS athlete Nicola Olyslagers, who not only won a high quality women’s high jump in Switzerland last week by equaling Patterson’s 2.02m Oceania record, but she’s also shaping as a rival for the world title.

“Nicola is performing incredibly, and I couldn’t be happier for her,” said Patterson.

“It’s been very impressive, and so good to see. I’ve been sitting back in Australia watching all the events, and I was definitely getting ‘FOMO’ [Fear of Missing Out] because I was thinking: ‘I want to get out there and to compete and to enjoy!’

“Those moments [such as Olyslagers performance] are wonderful to share and enjoy, so I’m keen to get amongst it. It’s great to see that in high jump in Australia – and definitely in NSW – we’re putting ourselves on the map and telling Australians: ‘hey, high jump is pretty cool, come check it out because we have so many athletes who are best in the world.’”

Patterson’s coach Alex Stewart said while she was entering ‘unchartered territory’ he was pleased with her progress.

“She’s been training well,” said Stewart. “But it’s unchartered territory for Eleanor because there is no manual on how to be a world champion and how to back up [after winning it] – it’s a very difficult thing.

“The injury earlier in the year was very difficult, but she’s tracking very well. Eleanor has three competitions [before Budapest]. What I’d like from Eleanor in the first one or two competitions is for her to find a bit of confidence . . . a bit of repeatability with her technical model.

“She’s going straight into the deep end with the Diamond League being her first two competitions – the second of which is Monaco, and that’s the ‘big’ Diamond League meet.

“Weather permitting something with a ‘two’ in front of it would be nice just to give Eleanor a bit of confidence going into worlds.”

Courtesy of the New South Wales Institute of Sport
Posted: 14/7/2023