Eleanor Patterson (born 22 May 1996) is an Australian track and field athlete who competes in the high jump. She won the gold medal at the 2022 World Championships, placed second at the 2023 World Championships and also won the bronze medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Eleanor Patterson
Personal information
NationalityAustralian
Born (1996-05-22) 22 May 1996 (age 28)
Leongatha, Victoria, Australia
Height1.82 m (5 ft 11+12 in)
Weight65 kg (143 lb)
Sport
SportTrack and field
EventHigh jump
Achievements and titles
Personal best2.02 m (6 ft 7+12 in) (2022)
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Australia
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2024 Paris High jump
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2022 Eugene High jump
Silver medal – second place 2023 Budapest High jump
World Indoor Championships
Silver medal – second place 2022 Belgrade High jump
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2014 Glasgow High jump
Silver medal – second place 2022 Birmingham High jump
World Youth Championships
Gold medal – first place 2013 Donetsk High jump

Career

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Born in Leongatha, Victoria,[1] Patterson began competing in the high jump as a child. She went to Little Athletics with her friend and fell in love with the sport.[2] Patterson competed in many local events.[3] She was runner-up at the national junior (under-20) championships in 2011, setting a personal best of 1.82 m (5 ft 11+12 in) at the age of 14. She returned the following year to win that title and improved to 1.87 m (6 ft 1+12 in) that November.[4]

In her first international competition, Patterson won the gold medal at the 2013 World Youth Championships, setting a personal best of 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) to win by a margin of six centimetres.[5] In December, she broke records at the Australian Schools Championships, clearing a height of 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) to equal the world youth best held by Charmaine Gale-Weavers (set in 1981) and Olga Turchak (set in 1984) and set a new Oceanian junior record. The 17-year-old had three attempts at the Australian senior record of 1.98 m (6 ft 5+34 in), but had three failures.[6]

Patterson was regularly over 1.90 m during the 2014 season, winning a fourth straight Australian junior title and taking her first senior national title at the Australian Championships. She also won at the Melbourne Track Classic meet with a jump of 1.92 m (6 ft 3+12 in).[4] Patterson decided to miss the 2014 World Junior Championships in order to represent Australia at the 2014 Commonwealth Games instead. The move paid off as she jumped 1.94 m (6 ft 4+14 in) to win the gold medal ahead of England's Isobel Pooley. This made the 18-year-old the third youngest Australian Commonwealth Games champion ever.[7][8]

Patterson finished eighth at the 2015 World Championships. She competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics but did not qualify for the final. Patterson did not make the 2018 Commonwealth Games squad; disappointed, she took a year off from the sport before returning in 2019.[9][10]

In 2020, Patterson set a new Australian record, jumping 1.99 m in New Zealand.[9] Having qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, she jumped 1.95 m in her group and therefore qualified for the final. There, she managed 1.96 m for a fifth-place finish, 0.08 m behind the eventual winner, Mariya Lasitskene of ROC.[11]

In March 2022, at the 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Patterson set a new Oceania indoor record, jumping 2.00 m to win the silver medal.[12] In July, she won the gold medal at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, tying the Australian national record of 2.02 m.[13] In August, she won the silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The following year, Patterson won the silver medal at the 2023 World Championships.

International competitions

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Representing   Australia
Year Competition Venue Position Notes
2013 World Youth Championships Donetsk, Ukraine 1st 1.88 m
2014 Commonwealth Games Glasgow, United Kingdom 1st 1.94 m
2015 World Championships Beijing, China 8th 1.92 m
2016 Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 22nd (q) 1.89 m
2021 Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan 5th 1.96 m
2022 World Indoor Championships Belgrade, Serbia 2nd 2.00 m
World Championships Eugene, United States 1st 2.02 m
Commonwealth Games Birmingham, United Kingdom 2nd 1.92 m
2023 World Championships Budapest, Hungary 2nd 1.99 m
2024 Olympic Games Paris, France 3rd 1.95 m

Personal life

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Patterson is engaged to Italian high jumper Marco Fassinotti.[14]

References

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  1. ^ Eleanor Patterson. Glasgow2014. Retrieved on 2014-08-02.
  2. ^ "Eleanor Patterson". Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
  3. ^ Patterson One-By-One. Spikes Magazine (2014-07-29). Retrieved on 2014-08-02.
  4. ^ a b Eleanor Patterson. Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2014-08-02.
  5. ^ Australia's Patterson hits the heights. IAAF (2013-07-12). Retrieved on 2014-08-02.
  6. ^ Mulkeen, Jon (2013-12-08). Patterson equals world youth high jump best. IAAF. Retrieved on 2014-08-02.
  7. ^ Broadbent, Chris (2014-08-01). Bolt lights up Glasgow and Australia take three gold medals at the Commonwealth Games. IAAF. Retrieved on 2014-08-02.
  8. ^ Bolt gets hero's reception for Games debut. SuperSport (2014-08-02). Retrieved on 2014-08-02.
  9. ^ a b "Australian high jumper Eleanor Patterson breaks 31-year-old national record in New Zealand". ABC.
  10. ^ McAlister, Sean. "Eleanor Patterson on her triumphant 2022: 'Who knows what letting go can bring to fruition'". olympics.com. 27 June 2023. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  11. ^ "Athletics PATTERSON Eleanor - Tokyo 2020 Olympics". olympics.com. Archived from the original on 3 October 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
  12. ^ "Belgrade22 | WIC 22 | World Athletics". www.worldathletics.org. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  13. ^ "Oregon22 | WCH 22 | World Athletics". www.worldathletics.org. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  14. ^ "Duplantis fallisce di un soffio i 6,19 del nuovo record dell'asta - SprintNews.it". 19 February 2022.
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