Leap of Faith | Hinson Lands Triple Jump Back on the Map

In a sport where the most talented often encounter success before hardship, it would be easy to dub Aiden Hinson unlucky. Denied consecutive World Under 20 appearances, the 19-year-old concedes he had his doubts, but with his maiden Australian title in Brisbane – Hinson landed himself and triple jump back on the map.

The laid-back Somerville local knows that in a perfect world he could already be a World Under 20 medallist and household name of Australian athletics, but what he has been forced to learn earlier than most is that the world of track and field is far from perfect.

With Australia’s absence from the 2021 World Athletics Under 20 Championships in Kenya, Hinson had one year on the clock to prepare for the 2022 edition in Colombia. He did just that when finding career-best form to be selected on the team, before hamstring surgery ensured one Australia’s best young talents remained an unknown entity as Hinson filed his withdrawal from the team.

“I had a lot of mates over at the World Juniors and they did really well. To see them blow up with media, sponsors and all that – it made me train both harder and smarter. It really helped me with the dedication and resilience,” Hinson said.

“I have a good team around me and a lot of people checking up on me. They were telling me that it sucks but to think long term with World Championships, Diamond Leagues, and Olympics – I took my time with my recovery and kept that in mind. This year is the first step.”

Returning in 2023, the 19-year-old wasted no time in proving that the decision to priortise his health was a good one. After jumping a personal best of 16.42m to win the Adelaide Invitational, Hinson jetted to New Zealand where he produced the longest jump by an Australian in 10 years – a 16.72m performance to propel himself to number nine on the Australian all-time list.

“I’m near 100 per cent healthy, I am learning my body still but I haven’t had a perfect jump this year. I haven’t been satisfied, even with the 16.72m – I was happy but looking at the video there is so much left to improve,” Hinson said.

Airborne leading into the Australian Track and Field Championships where he was deemed the resounding favourite, Hinson encountered a familiar yet unwelcomed feeling.

“On my first or second warm-up run through, my whole left hamstring had kind of like a muscle spasm. It’s not the one I had surgery on but it was really tight, which made me a bit cautious on the runway to go 100 per cent,” Hinson said.

Speaking over the fence with his team headed by coach Chloe Stevens, the most basic instruction was the one that struck a chord - “just run and jump”. Hinson delivered a stunning 16.61m leap in the fourth round before backing it up with a 16.54m effort in the sixth, defeating Connor Murphy on countback in an Australian title bout that will go down in history.

“We wanted to put on a show at Nationals and I think we did that based on the reaction. We stayed together in New Zealand and know how to switch on for competitions, we are really close and it’s good to be in the Open age group with those boys,” Hinson said.

“That competition was so mentally challenging, I had to put everything behind me and just jump. I was so mentally drained and just brain dead afterwards, I was thinking about pulling out but I’m glad I kept jumping.”

Training out of Frankston under the tutelage of Stevens who has just given birth to her second child, Hinson sang the praises of his coach as he sets his eyes on the 17m barrier and this year’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest, yet to declare himself fit for babysitting duties:

“Chloe is an unreal coach. I don’t know how she does it with two kids, she doesn’t even drink coffee or anything but always manages to get down to training. She does the little things and one percenters, but I don’t know if can trust myself babysitting two kids – maybe when I’m a bit older and more mature.”

Hinson and his team will now decide where he heads overseas in a bid to qualify for the Budapest championships.

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 6/4/2023