News & Updates

Tokyo-bound Lauren Bruce spectacularly reclaimed the New Zealand and Oceania women’s hammer record today by unleashing a stunning 74.61m effort at the Tucson Elite Classic in Arizona, USA.

The 24-year-old Christchurch-based athlete achieved the mark in round two of the competition to secure victory and surpass the Oceania and national record of 73.55m, set only two months earlier by her Kiwi rival Julia Ratcliffe at the Jennian Homes New Zealand Track & Field Championships.

Lauren made a huge breakthrough last September, improving her PB by almost five-and-a-half metres in one competition by firing the hammer out to 73.47m – for what was a then Oceania and national record in Hastings.

In December of last year, Lauren backed up that PB performance with a throw of 72.67m at the South Island Championships in Christchurch. Within the Tokyo 2020 qualifying period, that distance was beyond the World Athletics Tokyo qualification standard of 72.50m, and last month she was selected in the New Zealand team alongside Julia for the rescheduled Olympic Games.

Currently based in the US alongside her training partner, 2016 Olympic bronze medallist and reigning Commonwealth shot put champion Tom Walsh, Lauren, who is coached by Dale Stevenson, will be hugely uplifted by her performance against a top-class international field.

The 74.61m effort elevates her to sixth on the 2021 world rankings, which is led by America’s world champion Deanna Price – whose season’s best is 78.60m. The distance would have been long enough to have snared a medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Lauren, who put together a terrific series which also includes 72.02m in round three and 72.35m in round four, said: “I’m really happy to have thrown a PB at my first competition back, and to do it early in the rounds.

“There were definitely a few nerves coming into today but we knew I was in shape and I was able to trust that. It was great to be back out competing internationally under pressure, and test what we’ve built during the last few months.”

National shot put champion Tom Walsh also competed at the Tucson Elite Classic, finishing second with a throw of 21.71m, just 8cm short of his season’s best throw at the Jennian Homes New Zealand Track & Field Championships. Walsh’s PB is 22.90m.