Reigning world champion Barber ready to launch
Published Fri 22 Jul 2022
This time last year, reigning world champion Kelsey-Lee Barber (QLD) should have had the world at her feet. The javelin thrower was days away from the start of her second Olympic campaign, but a sub-par season saw her confidence torn to shreds, and dark thoughts and doubts about her future in the sport were creeping into her mind.
It took just one throw for Barber to turn it all around.
The 30-year-old showed nerves of steel, lifting in the final moments of her Olympic competition to produce a final-round throw of 64.65m and claim the Olympic bronze. Her moment on the big stage was not just a triumph for Australia, but a personal victory that saw Barber fall in love with the sport all over again.
While the performance was one of the most clutch moments of Australia’s Tokyo campaign, Barber has earned a reputation as an athlete with the ability to perform when it counts. In fact, two years prior at the Doha World Athletics Championships, a similar situation saw her win Australia's 12th World Athletics title with a 66.56m final effort to skyrocket her into first place.
This year in Oregon, Barber comes in with a different approach. She will be walking onto Hayward Field to defend her crown with a certain air of confidence.
“I think it’s really easy to say that what I’ve done in the past would weigh on me coming into Oregon, but I’ve done a lot of work over the last 12 months to see that what I’ve achieved so far is really special and those medals are always going to be there for me,” Barber said.
“Now I look to the future, and that’s me trying to bring more medals home. It allows me to stand on top of the runway, being in there here and now. I’m not going to allow my past experiences to weigh me down, nor are they going to pump me up and give me a false sense of hope that I can do it. I’m trying to live in the moment.”
As for her reputation as a clutch performer, Barber says she’ll take it in her stride.
“It’s really quite humbling to be known as a clutch performer. It’s nice to have that in your back pocket to pull out and for me, it’s less about trying to get the distance on the board but it’s one more opportunity to show what I can do with the javelin. I’ve always been one to get the most out of my throws and experiences in competition and I let go of everything else, the training comes together and I do the event,” Barber said.
Next to her in tomorrow’s final will be Olympic finalist and compatriot Mackenzie Little (NSW) who progressed to the Women’s Javelin final yesterday with a throw of 59.06m. The medical student has had a breakthrough year, furthering her lifetime best not once but twice this year and will enter the final with a 64.18m throw under her belt.
While Little snuck into the final in 12th place, her season suggests there will be more to come form the former NCAA Champion as she duels in only her second major championships final. A fierce competitor, the Stanford University product has won five out of seven competitions this year and has also claimed both the Oceania and Australian crowns over the past three months.
Mother of four, Kelly Ruddick (VIC) will make her Australian team debut at the age of 49, as the oldest competitor to ever compete at the World Athletics Championships as she takes on the inaugural 35km race walk.
It’s been a long journey for Ruddick to get to this point, with her 50km pet event removed from the Commonwealth Games program in 2014, and illness halting her from donning the green and gold at the 2015 World Championships.
Ruddick has only once competed in the 35km walk when taking out the Oceania and Australian Championships in Melbourne in May. Her time of 3:00.04 was just six minutes short of standard required to automatically qualify, but she is the 26th fastest out of the field of 41 and hopes to finish in a higher placing as the sole representative from the Oceania region.
Catriona Bisset (VIC) will take her mark in the Women’s 800m semi-final after a dramatic ending to her heat today. Involved in an incident with another athlete, Bisset crashed to the ground as she raced over the final bend but after deliberation from the jury, the Australian record holder was advanced to the semi-final. Bruised and cut-up, Bisset will make her start in Lane 5 as she faces Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson as well as a full field of athletes who have all dipped below the two minute barrier over their career.
After his teammate and training partner claimed bronze on Day 3, pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall (WA) will make his second world championships appearance in tomorrow’s qualification round. With a solid season in tow and a lifetime best of 5.87m to his name, Marschall goes in ranked seventh out of the 17 set to compete at Hayward Field, and will need to either clear 5.80m or finish within the top 12 to advance to Sunday’s final.
Australian athletics fans can tune into Ruddick’s 35km Race Walk on BeInSport, while the evening session can be viewed live and free via SBS On Demand.
By Sascha Ryner, Athletics Australia
Posted: 22/7/2022
