Twinning and Winning | Guthrie Duo Bound for World Stage

All that separates Isabella and Jasmin Guthrie are 10 hurdles.

The duo will become only the second set of twins to represent Australia in athletics when they take to the World Athletics Under 20 Championships in Colombia this August, having punched their tickets to Cali off the back of scintillating success in 2022.

Inseparable from birth, the Guthrie’s have grown up doing everything together, from the same events at Little Athletics all the way through to university where they study the same Sports and Exercise Science course - but it was Jasmin’s superiority on the track that sparked one defining difference.

The older of the two, Isabella, is quick to concede that her younger sister has always had her measure over 400m, prompting a shift to the 400m hurdles which would eventuate in back-to-back Under 20 Australian titles – whilst Jasmin repeated the dose with consecutive titles over 400m.  

“Jas used to always beat me, so I wanted to find an event that was my own thing,” Isabella says.

“It was pretty hard for a few years with Jas having so much success. I was okay, but a lot of people compared us which made me stick at it and train harder so that I could be as good as her - I think that has allowed me to be where I am today.”

The move was no overnight success for Isabella, who was forced to watch on from home as Jasmin represented Australia on the Gold Coast in 2021 after being selected in the Australian Under 20 team - a team which she had narrowly missed qualification for.  

“I was very upset and angry that I didn’t make it, but it gave me this determination and drive to do it this year – to get that world junior qualifier and to be with my sister and friends in Colombia,” Isabella says.

The persistence has seen Isabella emerge as one of the nation’s brightest young prospects in 2022, having registered the most world junior qualifiers in a single event by any athlete nationwide – with a perfect 11 qualifiers from 11 starts in the 400m hurdles, including a 58.08 personal best.

Jasmin topped off an immaculate domestic campaign with a national title win in a new personal best of 53.73 to go with her six world junior qualifiers en route to earning her second Australian tracksuit, with this one made all the more special by the presence of her sister.

“Bella and I have always done everything together, so it’s great that this will be no different. I’m so excited to come up against all the other countries and to see how I go at my first international competition - I’m hoping to make the final and to run a personal best,” Jasmin says.

Training under the tutelage of Angus McEntyre and alongside the likes of Olympic finalist Mackenzie Little and Cameron McEntyre, the twins are not fazed by the unique squad dynamic of sprints, hurdling and javelin – with full trust in McEntyre’s program.

“Training under Angus is amazing! We are all so close and tell each other everything, he’s just a really good coach. Our teammates are really dedicated and it’s great to be in that environment,” Jasmin says.

The comments are echoed by Isabella who says her hurdling has improved out of sight since joining McEntyre’s stable, also shaving significant margins off her career-best 400m time which now stands at 55.19 seconds – a handy asset to Australia’s 4x400m stocks for the World Athletics Under 20 Championships.

“People find it weird that we train with javelin throwers but Angus definitely knows what to do. Mackenzie is so confident and dedicated to her training, which has obviously paid off because she is doing so well. It makes me want to be like her and bring that to my 400m hurdles,” Isabella says.   

The duo will return to the track for the Oceania Athletics Champions in June, prior to taking off for their maiden international voyage in August which will see them land in Colombia via a team camp in Miami.

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 19/4/2022