Brilliant world champs bronze for Dr Little

Doctor by day, javelin thrower by night. Sydney’s Mackenzie Little has claimed Australia’s third medal of the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, winning bronze in the women’s javelin – an event that has become Australia’s most successful discipline at the global meet.

The 28-year-old and world number five Little timed her peak to perfection, producing a first-round throw of 63.58m that held strong as her best across the six-round series.

Only Ecuador’s Juleisy Angulo, who set a national record of 65.12m, and Latvia’s Anete Sietiņa with a personal best of 64.64m could surpass her.

“When I opened up with that 63, I was crowding on the line and I knew that there was more, but I also just knew that 63 would not cut it (for gold),” said Little, a New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder.

“I really just tried to give my all throughout the competition, and I couldn’t be happier for Anete who I’ve known since 2013 when we competed at the World Youth Championships, when we stood together on the podium. I’m just thrilled.”

Having only competed at 10 meets this year, with only two competitions with a result over the 60m mark including in Tokyo, Little proved once more that she is a big time performer. The 2023 bronze medallist stayed in medal contention throughout the competition, first in gold after round one, silver from round two until Sietina surpassed the Australian’s best attempt in the closing round.

For Little, the bronze medal is the latest chapter in her two high performing careers as she attempts to balance the demands of work at Royal North Shore Hospital and as one of the world’s top athletes.

“Sometimes I only have an hour or so for my session in the evening so that’s all I’m going to get,” she said. “It’s something I want to work on. It’s easy to say that I have this wonderful balance and everything comes perfectly together when I’ve got a nice medal around my neck, but things have been hard, and for me I also know that I compete best when I’m really happy and fulfilled in other parts of my life. My work is so fulfilling at the moment.”

The Women’s Javelin is Australia’s most successful event at the World Athletics Championships, with two gold, two silver and now two bronze medals, both bronze medals owned by Little.

Rose Davies (NSWIS) finished 10th in the Women’s 5000m Final and teammate Linden Hall (VIC) was just a few steps behind in 11th. Davies’ time of 15:03.41, is over 30 seconds slower than her national record from earlier in the year, confirming how tactical the race was.

The pace was slow early and wound up before a blistering last lap and home straight sprint which broke up the field. The Newcastle runner’s 10th place equals Eloise Wellings’s result in 2015, with both now claiming the best result by an Australian at the World Championships in the event.

“I’m happy with that race and result,” Davies said. “I gave it my all and that’s what I wanted to do, so I can’t complain. It was really tough out there. Tough physically and conditions wise. It was very tactical, very pushy, slow and fast. It was just hard to hold your spot.

” I was glad everyone stayed on their feet throughout cause I reckon there were a few close calls.”

After missing the 1500m final by one place, Hall was pleased with 11th (15:04.03) in her first major championship over the distance.

“That improves on my 1,500 result, and that’s a plus. We sort of set a goal of top 12 and I just snuck in under that. I’m definitely going home happy,” Hall said.

The pace really changed gear with 600 metres to run, and it kept winding up until an incredible last 100 metres with Kenya taking gold and silver. World record holder Beatrice Chebet outsprinted her teammate and Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon.

Matthew Denny (QLD) made light work of Men’s Discus qualification. His ‘one and done’ throw of 66.63m surpassed the auto-qualifying mark of 66.50m on his first throw.

A consistent big stage performer, the 29-year-old has now qualified for his fourth consecutive World Championship final and his form this season shows he is poised to get his first World Championship medal. Denny has twice gone beyond 70m this year, including a staggering 74.78m throw in April for the second-furthest in world history.

“One and done. I’m grateful to be through to the final. It’s not always easy, and we tried to not push the gears so high and overextend because obviously the final is tomorrow night and I need to be ready for that, Denny said.

“It’s nice to throw that far quite easily without too much exertion and nice to be in Tokyo Stadium again. I think I feel I’ve never felt more ready to throw and win.”

Defending World Champion and Tokyo 2021 Olympic Champion Daniel Stahl (SWE) led qualifying with 69.90m (Group A). 2022 World Champion Kristjan Čeh (SLO) also only needed one throw with his 68.08m. Martynas Alekna (LTU) threw a season best of 67.16m to qualify third best with Denny in fourth.

In an extremely fast Women’s 20km Walk Rebecca Henderson (VIC) produced another strong performance in Tokyo to place 21st in 1:31.05, backing up from her 9th place finish in the 35km walk last weekend. The 24-year-old, who was 31st at the 2024 Olympics and 32nd at the 2023 Worlds, was happy with her performance and is now looking forward to a well-deserved holiday in Japan.

“I would have really liked to be in that top-16, but the field is really strong and has really picked up . I’m happy to stay strong and get through, especially after last week (35km),” Henderson said.

“That’s my fastest time at a major by a few minutes so I’m really happy with that. I’m still young, I’ve just got to keep pushing for the next few years and just keep working through the packs.”

In her first major global championship race, Elizabeth McMillen (NSW) has finished 33rd, in 1:34.58. The 21-year-old, who won the World University Games earlier in the year will be one to watch over the coming years. It was a devastating international debut for West Australian walker Alexandra Griffin.

Griffin rolled her ankle very badly around a tight corner on the second lap of the course and despite her determination to push on, she was unable to continue and had to withdraw.

Spanish sensation Maria Perez won gold (1:25.54) again. She has now won four gold medals from four races at the past two World Championships – the double-double.

In the Men’s 20km Race Walk, which started after the women’s race in hotter conditions, Rhydian Cowley (VIC) was the first Australian home in 20th place (1:21.18). It was another impressive performance from Cowley, who at 34 is racing at his sixth World Championships, after placing 11th in the 35km at the start of the Championships.

“My legs just couldn’t go with the pace early after the tough 35K a week ago,” he said. “But I’m happy with how I finished and hung in there.” Cowley passed Declan Tingay (VIC) in the final kilometre as he paid the price for attacking the race early, finishing 23rd in 1:21.30.

Tingay, who was in the lead group of 12 at halfway, before the early pace started to take its toll.

“I was committed to sort of having a crack and just hooking in as long as I could. And I did that well for about 10K,” Tingay said. “And then I hit a massive amount of strife, and things didn’t go so well between 10 and 15. I managed to pull it back together and I made that last 5Ks as solid as it could be. I did my best to hold position, but I got swamped, unfortunately, coming through to the finish line.”

On debut at a major championship, Tim Fraser (ACT) was really pleased with his 34th place in 1:24.55. Brazilian Caio Bonfim improved on his silver in the 35km to win gold by 12 seconds in 1:18.35. Japanese world record holder Toshikazu Yamanishi was leading in the second half of the race to the delight of the local fans, before a two-minute penalty ended his hopes of a podium finish.

It was a night of drama for Australia’s relay squads, with just one team making it through after a dramatic set of heats across the Men’s and Women’s 4x100m and 4x400m. The Men’s 4x100m team of Connor Bond (NSW), Joshua Azzopardi (NSWIS), Calab Law (QLD) and Rohan Browning (NSWIS), combined brilliantly to finish fourth in Heat 2 and qualify for the final with their time of 38.21 seconds.

The Australians know they can run much quicker in the final, having run 37.87 in Sydney in March and go into the final as the seventh fastest qualifier.

“We can definitely go faster in the final. We went 37.87 in Sydney earlier this year and this team’s just as good. 38.2 is a good time but that’s not what we’re here for,” Law said.

“Every single person in the team, whether they ran today or not, everyone’s ready to go and the culture is amazing in the relay program right now,” Bond, who made his international debut tonight, said.

From elation to heartbreak, the Men’s 4x400m team experienced the highs that come with a finals berth, only to be disqualified after crossing the line in third, in what was thought to be a new Australian record. Cooper Sherman (VIC), Reece Holder (QLD), Aidan Murphy (SA) and Thomas Reynolds (VIC), ran 2:58.00 which would have broken the 41-year-old Australian record set at the Los 1984 Olympics, only to find out that Murphy had stepped out of the exchange box before Holder had passed the baton.

It was the same team that ran 2:58.73 at World Relays in May, and they were psyched to be quicker again in the final, only to be denied their place. The record-holding Women’s 4x100m relay team consisting of Ella Connolly (NSWIS), Bree Masters (QLD), Kristie Edwards (NSWIS) and Torrie Lewis (QLD) also experienced devastation, with Connolly and Masters fumbling the baton exchange to result in a DNF.

The Women’s 4x400m team of Mia Gross (VIC), Ellie Beer (QLD), Jemma Pollard (NSWIS) and Carla Bull (QLD) were proud to finish their Tokyo campaign with a season’s best of 3:25.43 to finish seventh in their heat.

Each of the girls started their legs fast, to keep the team in touch of a qualifying position and finished strong. Heptathletes Camryn Newton-Smith (QLD) and Tori West (QLD) finished their competition strong, placing 16th (5925 points) and 17th (5778 pts) respectively. They both moved up the leaderboard two places will solid efforts in the long jump, javelin and 800m on Saturday.

Both women were pleased to get through the competition injury-free after a tough year. After a well-deserved break, they will look to build on their performances here in Tokyo, with the main aim for next year being qualification for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and challenging for the medals.

Americans Anna Hall (6888) and Taliyah Brooks (6581) claimed the gold and bronze medals, with Ireland’s Kate O’Connor (6714) setting a national record for silver.

The final day of competition continues tomorrow, with Australian viewers able to watch live and free on the Nine Network and SBS.

Australian Athletics