Liz Clay - the People’s Choice

10 June 2020

Liz Clay - the People’s Choice

The women have dominated the 2019/2020 Athletics NSW People’s Choice award with hurdler Liz Clay triumph ahead of distance runner Jess Hull.

The break-through season and recent performances by Clay hit accord with the NSW athletics community, as they voted for her stunning 12.94 100m hurdles mark at the Melbourne Track Classic their favourite. The Gold Coast-based Sydney University Athletics Club member commenced the season with a personal best of 13.36, but in one terrific performance become the fourth fastest in Australian history. She proved it was no fluke with her next two races - 13.17 into a 1.5m/s wind in Canberra and 13.01 in Sydney.

Well known by the Sydney running community, Clay’s journey in athletics started at Hornsby Little Athletics in the under-10s. Set to make her international debut in 2014 as a member of the Australian World Junior team, she broke her navicular bone weeks before the team departed. After completing her exercise and sports science degree in Sydney, she relocated to the Gold Coast for coaching. She had been making modest improvements in her hurdle times, plagued by injuries every year. It never fully healed and caused problems every season. It was a tough time for Clay, she felt all the other girls were progressing and achieving the things she wanted to and knew she could achieve. During these years she found competing mentally difficult as she never knew what the outcome was going to be and it made her very stressed.

She recalls the first season without injury preventing her competing, felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Supporting her on her journey since arriving on the Gold Coast was leading Australian hurdles coach Sharon Hannan who had guided Sally Pearson to Olympic gold in 2012. Another influence was a boss of hers, Dimitri, a former professional tennis player. He provided much needed counsel, which Clay described his ‘hard to swallow advice’, which she didn’t want to hear, but needed too. She is very grateful to him now.

Clay defeated some astounding performances by NSW athletes in the last 12 months, including Morgan McDonald’s (RBH) 5000m win at the NCAA (US college Championships) where he unleashed a devastating last lap; Jess Hull’s (BAN) 1500m semi-final at the 2019 world championships, where she recorded the fastest 1500m non-final qualifying time in history with a mark of 4:01.80 – a PB, an Olympic qualifier and elevating to #4 Australian ever; James Turner’s dual gold and world record performances in the 100m and 400m at the World Para-Athletics championships; Brandon Starc’s sixth in the high jump at the 2019 world championships, the equal second best performance in the Australian team and three 1.96m leaps by Nicola McDermott – all Olympic qualifiers and improving her to #4 Australian all-time.

David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW

Image: Liz Clay (graphic Daniel Laus)