We are very excited to announce that Jayden Sawyer will be inducted into this year's Roll of Excellence.
Jayden Sawyer is an Australian para athlete, world champion and world record holder in the F38 Javelin Throw.
The Little Athletics Roll of Excellence recognises former participants in Little Athletics who have subsequently excelled in their chosen field within four categories: Track & Field, Sportsperson, Achievers and Volunteers.
Little Athletics
Para coach Chris Timpson asked Jayden to join the Para Athletics Talent Squad and train at the Australian Institute of Sport in Bruce, ACT.
He had early success in Shot Put and Discus but not in Javelin.
Broke many Junior Australian records in the F38 class, still holding the Australian U16 Shot Put Record of 12.31m (2008).
Nan who convinced him to keep going with this discipline as she loved to watch the javelin fly through the air.
The transition from junior to senior competition difficult. He was almost at a point of giving the sport away when his coach and mother convinced him to attend one more training camp in the sport. It was at this camp that he went from a Shot Putter to a Javelin thrower and decided to start training full time.
He credits athletics with assisting him with his disability and learning to understand his body.
2013 World Para Championships in Lyon, France, his first test on the International stage
Took home the bronze medal in the F38 Javelin.
2015 World Championships in Doha-finished 4th; missing out on a medal by only 39cm. Despite throwing an area record at this event, missing out on a medal meant that he lost funding and could no longer dedicate himself to being a full-time athlete.
2016 was a tough year-overcome injury, illness, a fall from a golf cart, and the aftermath of a cyclone just to make the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio.
2017 London World Para Athletics Championships -arriving in London with a PB of 48.55m, he opened with 49.17m and extended his best to a championship record of 51.05m in round three to lead the competition. As he lined up for the last throw he already had secured the gold medal, and coach Mike Barber challenged him to go for the World Record; something Jayden hadn’t even contemplated. Jayden “went for it” and achieved a new world mark of 52.96m to go along with the gold medal and world championship.
2017 awarded the Canberra Sports Awards ‘Athlete of the Year – Para Sport’
2018 Commonwealth Games - Gold Coast remarkably after only 7 month of preparation, managed to not only qualify but to finish 4th in the shot put event.
Having been diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at the age of 2 and undergoing numerous operations along the way, Jayden Sawyer is an inspiration to all that know him. He credits his impressive results to seven-time Paralympian and long-time coach, Hamish MacDonald, whose career, he says, has been a source of inspiration. Jayden continues to give his time mentoring little athletes in the ACT and speaks to visiting junior groups at the AIS about the challenges and success he has experienced during his career. A well-loved athlete throughout Australian athletics, Jayden has the determination to continue to achieve on the world stage.
Records:
International Performances
2013 IPC Athletics World Championships in Lyon, France:
• F38 Shot Put: 11.10m 6th
• F38 Javelin 40.53m 3rd
2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha, Qatar:
• F38 Javelin: 45.78m 4th
2016 Summer Paralympic Games, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:
• F38 Javelin 45.63m 5th
2017 World Para Athletics Championships, London, England:
• F38 Javelin 52.96 1st, World Record
2018 Commonwealth Games, Gold Coast, Australia:
• F38 Shot Put 12.40m 4th
Awards
• 2017 Canberra Sports Awards ‘Athlete of the Year – Para Sport’
Being inducted alongside Sawyer are is fellow sports star and Olympian Lauren Wells, Kimberley Brennan, respected scholar, John Philimore, author and politician, Tony Buti, and Little Athletics Volunteers Wendy Beisiegel and Ron Keys.
The inductees this year join a special group that have been awarded Little Athletics Australia Roll of Excellence membership; which includes Olympic and world champion track and field athletes Steve Hooker, Sally Pearson and John Steffensen, AFL star player Jack Reiwoldt, former Wallabies captain George Gregan, professional surfer Sally Fitzgibbons, Olympic Gold medallist, Kathy Watt (Cycling), just to name a few.
The Roll of Excellence will be held at The National Arboretum in the Village Centre room on Saturday 20th October 2018. For more details or to purchase tickets please call us on 03 9682 1511 or email admin@littleathletics.com.au
Coles Little Athletics Australia acknowledges and pays respect to all traditional custodians of the lands of which we work, run, jump and throw throughout Australia. We pay respect to elders both past, present and emerging.
We are committed to a positive future for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and to honor their ongoing cultural and spiritual connections to this country and recognize the role and value of culture.
