Hammer time for Kiwi trio
Late bloomer Nicole Bradley is vowing to treasure every minute of her chance to be part of history at the athletics world championships in Oregon which start on Saturday.
The 30-year-old Auckland radiographer is part of a full complement of three Kiwi athletes lining up in the women’s hammer throw at both the world championships (qualifying is on Saturday morning, NZT) and the Commonwealth Games that follow soon after in Birmingham.
It’s the first time New Zealand has had three athletes in one field event discipline in world championships history, with Commonwealth Games champion and Tokyo Olympics finalist Julia Ratcliffe and rising young prospect Lauren Bruce joining Bradley on the start-line in both Eugene and Birmingham. Only in the marathon and race walks have the maximum quotas been achieved previously at the global level.
Bradley is somewhat of a study in perseverance as she gets her first ‘‘black singlet’’ global assignment at the ripe old age of 30. By her own admission, she’s the ‘‘old lady’’ of the throws contingent, but brings a freshness generated by an opportunity she very much considers bonus territory.
‘‘Who would have thought it for women’s hammer throw,’’ she reflected after her selection. ‘‘I love what I do, I love throwing hammer, It just went far and now I’m one of the three.’’
Bradley, who is coached by Mike Schofield in Auckland, started throwing the hammer as a 13-year-old in Dunedin, and has plugged away at it until she finally broke the 70-metre threshold in 2021. Her personal best of 70.45m was set at this year’s national championships in Hastings when she finished runner-up to Bruce (73.34m).
‘‘As soon as one person throws 70m, you’re like maybe I can too,’’ she says of the competitive
dynamic among the trio. ‘‘All of a sudden it’s brought us all up, and then when we compete together we really push each other.
‘‘At the nationals when I threw 70m, Lauren was like, ‘I have to throw far now’, and then she threw further than me. I still threw a PB so we definitely bring each other up, even if we don’t necessarily realise it.’’
Bradley is suitably relaxed about the world championships assignment. Ratcliffe has a PB of 73.55m and after finishing ninth at the Tokyo Olympics is expected to make the 12-strong field for the final in Eugene.
Same goes for the Australiabased Bruce, who at 25 is still scratching the surface of an event that takes time to master. After missing the final in Tokyo, the Cantabrian with a PB of 74.61m will very much have her sights on finishing well inside the world’s top 12.
For Bradley there is no such pressure in an event all about getting it right on the night.
‘‘Hammer is so unpredictable,’’ she says. ‘‘We have a cage that locks us in, and if you don’t get one out, you don’t get a mark. You’ve got to focus on yourself, get inside the lines, out the cage, and you’ve got to stay in the [throwing] ring. It can feel claustrophobic.
‘‘Anyone can go overseas and get three no-throws. Everyone who knows hammer throwing knows that could happen.’’
It’s why Bradley puts her focus very much on soaking up a moment that has been both a long
time coming and the product of a lot of hard work.
‘‘If I throw 70m on the world stage that will be awesome, but I don’t have any expectations,’’ she says. ‘‘I am just going to go out and enjoy it and hopefully that brings a performance.’’
Bradley’s story is heartwarming. She moved to Auckland over a decade ago to study radiography, and has sacrificed her career to pursue her sport. ‘‘I work part-time as a radiographer, and train full-time as an athlete,’’ she says. ‘‘I earn a lot less money because of this sport but it’s worth it because I enjoy it.
‘‘My coach is very good. He focuses my training based on me, not what it should be. I don’t do a lot of traditional lifts, just to preserve my body because I’ve had a few injuries. As long as I can throw the hammer, it doesn’t really matter how much I can throw in a gym.’’
The women’s hammer for Oregon has been thrown wide open by the withdrawals of four-time world and three-time Olympic champion Anita Wlodarczyk (Poland) and 2019 gold medallist DeAnna Price (USA). There’s still plenty of quality in the field, headed by worldleading American Brooke Anderson who has thrown 79.02m this year (she finished a spot behind Ratcliffe in the Olympic final) and compatriot Janee’ Kassanavoid who set a PB of 78.00m in May.
But as Ratcliffe and Bruce will be well aware, when it comes to hammer time, anything can happen on the day.