Mackenzie's Story
Fast Facts
Sport: Athletics
Event: Javelin
Olympic History: Tokyo 2020
Highlights: World Youth (U18) champion, two-time NCAA champion
Coach: Angus McEntyre
Year Born: 1997
State Born: Rochester, Victoria
About Mackenzie
Mackenzie Little started her athletics journey at Northern Suburbs Little Athletics in the Under-6s, but moved on to team sports - soccer, softball, water polo and hockey as she grew older.
One rainy morning before school in Year 7 at Pymble Ladies College, she went to her first javelin training session after her hurdles competition was cancelled.
During her teenage years, Little didn’t just compete in the javelin, but also at a national level in the 400m hurdles and heptathlon.
By 15, she was already throwing over 50 metres. In 2013 she competed at the World Youth (U18) Championships in Ukraine, where she added five metres to her personal best, to win gold.
She graduated to the heavier javelin smoothly in 2014, throwing 57.60m, while only 17. A year later she was at Stanford University studying a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology.
Before she graduated in 2019, she had won two NCAA javelin titles and improved her best to 60.36m.
Back in Australia in 2019, Little commenced medicine at Sydney University and at the track, made a great start to her 2020/21 season throwing a personal best of 61.42m and cementing her position as the sixth-best in Australian history.
She compiled a consistent summer of results with four throws over 60m, and recording defeats over world champion Kelsey-Lee Barber and Australian record holder Kathryn Mitchell.
At nationals she placed third and during a series of competitions in June in Queensland, where she through around 60 metres in a few competitions, she earned enough points to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics
She arrived in Tokyo ranked 24 in the field of 30, but she defied that rating. In her first throw in the qualifying round, she nailed a PB of 62.37m, eventually ending up second in her pool and fourth overall.
She had company as Australia set a record with three in the final with Kathryn Mitchell and Kelsey-Lee Barber joining her. In the final Little was again terrific placing eighth with a throw of 59.96m.
In Tokyo Mackenzie Little had been one of the surprise Australian team performances at the Olympics.
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