News & Updates

It was 12 long years ago when Holly Robinson last lined up at a major championship competing in both the javelin and shot put.

Aged just 16 at the time and competing in her debut Para Athletics World Championships in Christchurch – Holly finished fifth in the javelin and seventh in the shot at QE II Stadium.

Yet the whole direction of her sporting career was to solidify shortly after the 2011 event in the Garden City when the shot put was removed as a competitive international championship option for the F46 division.

From that point on javelin became the primary goal for Holly and having carved out a career in which she is the reigning Paralympic champion and a four-time World Championship medallist she has few regrets.

Yet a more recent move to reintroduce the shot put as an international championship event for the women’s F46 division has opened up new possibilities and the Dunedin-based athlete is relishing the prospect of competing in both events at the Paris 2023 Para Athletics World Championships. 

“It has been in the pipeline for a while that World Para Athletics wanted to bring in an extra event for my class,” explains Holly. “We are one of only a few classes that only had one throwing event (at major championships) but World Para were keen to see an increase in the number of competing female athletes. They debated about whether it was discus or shot and I was delighted it was shot because I’m a rubbish discus thrower! Once it was finalised it was exciting to be able to focus on two events. It is like my career has come full circle since I competed in shot and javelin in 2011.”

All set to surpass Jess Gillan and become the first Kiwi to appear at sixth Para Athletics World Championships, Holly is wise enough to acknowledge that each edition brings its own “uniqueness” and this is certainly true of the 2023 edition staged at the Stade Charlety.

After memorably striking javelin F46 gold at the Tokyo Paralympics last year the world’s premier Para athletes were denied an opportunity to compete on the global stage when the 2022 Para Athletics World Championships in Kobe, Japan were postponed.

Using the opportunity to work on some technical elements of her throwing she has also tried to bed down juggling the demands of training for two events.

“It has been a bit of a challenge because they are very different events,” explains Holly. “A shot put at 4kg is a lot heavier than the javelin. But I have enjoyed going back to being a beginner at an event. It’s exciting to try something different.”

A minor car accident, however, irritated an already “grumpy” elbow which made it increasingly harder to throw. So in January she underwent elbow surgery to fix a few floating bones and clean out the critical area of the throwing arm.

“As I have just one hand, I had to really consider the surgery not just from the point of view of my sporting life but also in terms of my daily living,” she explains.

Thankfully the surgery was a big success. Initially she expected competing in the javelin at Paris 2023 would be a longshot, but such has been the speed of her recovery both events are very much on the table in the French capital.

In Townsville, Queensland last month she hurled the javelin out to an encouraging 36.89m – a performance which convinced Holly and her coach, Raylene Bates, the javelin will be on the agenda inside the Stade Charlety.

“I was quite happy with the distance (in Townsville), it makes me pretty highly ranked I’m a happy to keep building on that,” she explains.

Given her inexperience in the shot and challenging preparation in the javelin predictions are hard to make but she describes her shot as in “a good place” with a medal not out of reach for the Hokitika-raised athlete.

“I did a pretty decent throw in Townsville (of 11.00m) and my PB (and national record of 11.68m) puts me around the top three. There is an American out front and a Japanese athlete with a PB better than her distance on the rankings. I’m in pretty good form in the shot and I’m expecting to throw mid to high 11 metres.

“For the javelin we’ve set the main goal a top four to get a qualification slot for the Tokyo Paralympics. I am not going to settle for that though, and I’d love to medal, but the main priority is top four.”

Holly is also excited to see the introduction of a qualification round for the women’s shot F46 – which offers further evidence of the growing depth and competitive strength of Para athletics.

Yet whatever happens in France, Holly takes immense pride from appearing at a record-breaking sixth Para Athletics World Championship.

“Looking back on that naïve little girl competing at a home world champs at the age of 16 I always hoped that this would be the journey, but you never know what the future holds. Back then I didn’t realise the significance of it. But it is quite cool to think that this year I’ll be back competing in the shot and javelin just like at the first World Championships.”

***The Paris 2023 Para Athletics World Championships takes place from 8-17 July.

Catch Holly in action at the below times (all times NZ)

• Wed 12 July – Women’s javelin F46 final – 19:26
• Thur 13 July – Women’s shot put F46 qualification – 22:30
• Sat 15 July – Women’s shot put F46 final – 05:25