Master of Many | Newton-Smith hits Heptathlon high

In an event where so much can go wrong, Camryn Newton-Smith could not have found a better time to get it right. Qualifying for her first Olympic Games, the reigning Australian and Oceania heptathlon champion’s road to Paris has led through college, Achilles surgery, cafes and plant shops.

On the eve of the Olympic year, Newton-Smith’s personal best stood at 5821 points – a solid baseline but far from commanding the credentials of an Olympian in 2024. That would shift in December with a score of 6050 at the Queensland Combined Event Championships to eclipse the 6000 point barrier penciled in every aspiring heptathlete’s diary.

“It’s such a great event at the moment, especially in Queensland with me, Tori [West] and Emelia [Surch], and all of the decathletes. It’s a really exciting time for multi events in Australia, after this year hopefully we can build more hype like they do overseas,” Newton-Smith said.

The mark was enough to spark belief, and belief was enough to spark the rest. Returning to the national stage for the 2024 Australian Athletics Championships, Newton-Smith would pile on the points to be crowned Australia’s most versatile female athlete – stopping the count at 6180 after seven events.

Doubling down to be crowned the Oceania champion in Fiji in June with a 6070 point performance, Newton-Smith propelled herself to 19th place on the Road to Paris rankings, with the top 24 qualifying for the Olympic Games.

“It means everything to me; I’m trying not to cry just thinking about it. When I do hopefully get the news officially, I think there will be so many tears of just relief and happiness to be honest,” Newton-Smith said.

“My Mum has been doing the calculations for me all season, she’s pretty cluey with all of it. She went and read everything about the qualification system.”

A World Under 20 Championships representative in 2018 and World University Games representative in 2023, Newton-Smith’s path to the verge of her Olympic debut at the age of 24 does not seem unordinary, but the Queenslander describes it as “bumpy” after tearing her Achilles in 2021 while at Arkansas State in the NCAA.

“High jump after that was just so hard, I had a lot of PTSD. I used to get the shakes and stuff, and I didn’t run out of blocks for about a year because I was terrified. I had to figure out and learn all seven events again,” Newton-Smith said.

“You have to turn that frown upside down type of thing. If something goes well it can completely change your momentum, but if something goes bad, you have to be able to push through it.” 

The Master of Teaching student who shares her spare time between cafes and plant shops, with a growing collection of over 15 plants, says the appeal of the heptathlon comes down to the variety.

“I’m not going to say it’s an event for average people. It’s definitely for people who might not be the fastest or able to jump the furthest, but are pretty much up there in everything. You have to be able to do everything well. You are not a master of one, you are a master of many,” Newton-Smith said.

“It’s such a family-oriented event where you are working with everyone for two days. You see their highs and lows and they help you through yours too. It’s so different from the other events and it’s a great thing to be a part of.”

Coached by her dad, Ralph Newton and crediting sprints coach Gavin Hunter for much of her success this year, Newton-Smith is poised to meet her idols Katarina Johnson-Thompson (GBR) and Anna Hall (USA) on the biggest stage of them all, qualifying alongside Tori West as the pair look to become Australia’s first Olympic representatives in the event since Kylie Wheeler at Beijing 2008.

And while Newton-Smith has hopes of competing at the esteemed Hypomeeting in Gotzis in the future, her Olympic dream prevailed in 2024:

“It’s such a taxing event that to back up and do more heptathlons was just not feasible for me. I didn’t think I could improve on my scores from Nationals and Oceania, so I have just had to wait which really sucked,” Newton-Smith said.

“We have been preparing like I am going to the Olympics. I have been trying to hit every event at least once a week, staying strong and training through to hopefully compete well when we get to Paris.”

Newton-Smith’s breakthrough season has seen her set new personal bests in six of the seven heptathlon events – 100m Hurdles (13.43), High Jump (1.84m), Shot Put (13.28m), 200m (24.29), Long Jump (6.27m) and 800m (2:21.55).

Her Javelin best of 47.79m from 2022 remains, for now. 

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted 7/07/2024