Kelsey-Lee Barber

Australia's Kelsey-Lee Barber becomes the first woman in history to successfully defend her javelin gold medal at the World Athletics Championships.

"About a month ago I nailed it down. The 30-year-old Barber has won medals at each of her past three major championships — world gold in 2019 and 2022 and bronze at the Tokyo Olympics. With two days of competition remaining, Australia now has three medals — two gold and a bronze — with the possibility of a few more to come. Earlier on Friday, 49-year-old mother-of-four Kelly Ruddick — the oldest female athlete ever to compete at a world championships — came home 34th of the 35 finishers in the women's 35km walk. - Australia now has three medals — two gold and a bronze — at the Oregon event - The gold is her third straight medal at major events, after gold at Doha 2019 and bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Australia's Kelsey-Lee Barber has become the first woman to defend a world title in javelin, securing a momentous victory at the World Athletics ...

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A 66.91m throw has made Kelsey-Lee Barber the first woman to defend a javelin world title, joining Cathy Freeman as the only Australians to go back-to-back.

Australia’s best result at a world championships came in 2009 — with two gold and two bronze medals. From her uncle and aunt’s dairy farm in Corryong, Victoria, young Barber began training for a career in athletics. Arriving during the Sydney Olympics, young Kelsey-Lee was immediately captured by the gold medal-winning feats of Cathy Freeman and other Australian heroes competing at their home Games. This time it happened much earlier in the competition. The 30-year-old has made athletics history, becoming the first woman to defend the javelin world title. I prepared to be able to do that at these championships.”

Barber further embellished her reputation as a supreme big-event competitor at Hayward Field on Friday evening with a monster third-round throw of 66.91 metres ...

"I want to be one of the best and I finally feel like I'm standing up there." "In the last couple of years I've said I want to be remembered in this sport. "To be able to do that in the first round is great," Little said. "What I was able to do on the runway tonight was to put everything aside and just throw the javelin," she said. "I prepared to be able to do that at these major championships." "I was chatting to (coach and husband) Mike (Barber) and said 'I can do this, I can win the world championship'.