Zoe is the fastest New Zealand woman ever, and now she’s headed to Paris for her first-ever Olympics! Reporter Jasmine gives her some tips on a victory dance. Video / Kea Kids News
Zoe Hobbs is New Zealand’s fastest woman and the only female athlete from the Oceania region to crack the magical 11-second barrier for the 100m. It’s been a lifetime of work and sacrifice and hundreds of races since she started on grass tracks as a kid in Taranaki. Ahead of the Paris Olympics, where she will be the first Kiwi to compete in the glamour sprint event since 1976 in Montreal, Hobbs reflects with Michael Burgess about the most important races of her career so far.
New Zealand National Championships, Newtown Park, Wellington. March 3, 2023
I wasn’t expecting anything. My goal for that domestic season was to run a world championships qualifier. It was my first run of the year and I had been dealing with a hamstring strain. It’s always nerve-racking coming back from an injury so I was lucky to have a heat to be able to feel things out and get used to racing again.
Zoe Hobbs wins the Women 100m during the 2023 Sydney Track Classic athletics event. (AAP Image/Mark Evans/ www.photosport.nz
I ran 11.07, which was the qualifying standard for the world championships. It was great to bank it away in my first race back, so I could approach that final with confidence, knowing my body was in check and good to go. It gave me another edge of intensity to bring to the final.
The final was my first time running under 11 seconds. Sure, it was a wind-assisted sub-11 time but it was 10.89, so a big drop from my personal best back then (11.08). It was a huge moment to drop it that significantly. Although it was an illegal wind (+3.4), you still have to physically run that fast.
Sydney Track Classic, March 11, 2023
This was historic and pretty special. It was my first time legally running sub-11 seconds and the first for a woman in Oceania history. A lot of people were excited after the 10.89 [in Wellington] the week before but there were others saying it was only because there was wind behind her and a bit of doubt that I might do it.
But I knew I had it within me. I was confident and I realised Sydney would be a good opportunity, if the conditions were right. I was also nervous because it was the first time I lined up against the Australians that season and they were on form. It was probably the perfect combination of nerves and excitement.
I vividly remember crossing the line. Usually in the infield I wouldn’t see the time, I would just keep running through and wait for the loudspeaker but I saw it straight away so it was cool that I could celebrate in the exact moment. It was a mixture of disbelief and excitement, that I had managed to piece together a sub-11 race. I still had a relay afterwards, then a late-night burger, so a low-key celebration.
Resisprint International, Stade de La Charriere, Switzerland, July 2, 2023.
This was the Olympic standard, that I ran one day after the Paris qualification window opened. I competed in the Lausanne Diamond League two days prior and drove up from there. It was hard to back up but the data showed some of my best performances have come from rounds of racing or follow-up races. It was almost like Lausanne acted as a primer; I was a little tired and stiff but it gave me an edge for this run.
But it was very cold. I wasn’t prepared for that, as I had just got to Europe and didn’t have all my things on me. It was hard to keep warm and the wind was all over the place, hovering around the legal limit.
When I finished the race I didn’t see the time (11.07) come up on the scoreboard. There was a delay but as soon as I heard it was a massive sense of relief. Qualifying so early meant that the pressure was off my shoulders, in terms of chasing a time and I could plan for Paris. And having worked towards the Olympics almost my entire life, it was quite special.
New Zealand's fastest woman, Zoe Hobbs. Photo / Photosport
Paris Diamond League, June 2022
This was my first Diamond League race. I was pretty starstruck that I had got a lane. It was always a series that I had seen as probably not within reach, in terms of being able to compete in and Paris is a very good one.
It was a late call-up – there must have been a pull-out – but it opened an opportunity for me to be able to get that first experience, which I was so grateful for. It was surreal really, to be immersed in that environment, even just being in the hotel with the big names. On the track, it almost felt like a world championships final because you are lined up against the best of the best.
Commonwealth Games, Birmingham, August 2022
Just to be in the team was a big deal because it was a tougher standard than the Olympics the year prior. For Birmingham you had to run 11.01 once or 11.15 (the B standard) twice, whereas Tokyo was 11.15 once. So it was great to come back from the disappointment of missing the Olympics.
It was an event I had wanted to compete in since I was a kid so getting to live in my moment and be a part of it was very cool. The week leading into the Games I had Covid so I wasn’t sure how that would affect my performance. And it was quite a deep field; we had the Olympic champion (Elaine Thompson-Herah) running. So I was proud to make the final and place sixth, which has since been upgraded to fifth.
Zoe Hobbs of during the Women's 100m final at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Photo / Simon Stacpoole / www.photosport.nz
Athletics World Championships, Budapest, August 2023
This was bittersweet but it is up there with one of my proudest moments. I raced in probably the deepest semi-final the world championships has ever seen, with three of the fastest women of all time. So to perform when it mattered most and only miss out on the final by 0.01 was something to be proud of.
It wasn’t a personal best but if you allow for the headwind the 11.02 is one of the two best races in my life. In such a tough field, I had nothing to lose. I shifted the mentality, thinking “there isn’t much pressure on me”. That helped. You are always nervous in big moments but this was good nerves, rather than them being over-consuming.
I had a good start and then composed myself in the latter stages. Often that is where it can fall apart; where you start to tense up so I was proud to be able to let it flow. I was ranked eighth after my race – enough to make the final - but there was still one more semi-final to go.
I had to walk through the mixed media zone and I remember stopping in the middle of an interview to find out where my final placing was. It was a bit chaotic; I couldn’t see the screen, so I was waiting for the interviewer to tell me where I had placed.
Once I had finished, I had to head back to the warm-up zone and stay ready, just in case someone had pulled out from the final. Obviously, you think about the things you could have done to give you that 0.01, literally a hairline away from making a major final. But once I gave myself the night to process it all, it felt special. I proved to myself that I was able to mix it with the best.
Zoe Hobbs in action at the World Athletics Championships. Photo / Getty Images
World Indoor Championships, Glasgow, March 2024
I wasn’t expecting big things; all of our focus was planned back from the Olympics, so I didn’t have a huge ramp into this. I knew I charged home quick and I had a good feeling that I had done well. I was in lane eight, so it was hard to tell where I was.
There was a lot of suspense because no one knew who had placed where. We had to wait for the times on the big screen. They ticked over, one by one, so I was holding my breath up until that moment. I ran 7.06, with the bronze medallist crossing in 7.05. Obviously to miss out on a global championship medal by 0.01 was gutting. But it was also reassuring, proving to myself that I am that close.
Pacific School Games, Canberra, December 2008
I was 11 years old and this was the first time I represented New Zealand. Three years earlier, we had gone to Melbourne to watch my brother, Connor, compete in the 2005 Pacific School Games. He did everything; sprints, shot put, relays. At the time I wasn’t happy that he got to race and I didn’t get; I had to watch from the stands because I was too young.
My parents keep reminding me of that moment, how I was complaining about, saying that it was unfair. They said if I work hard and try for the next one I’ll get my opportunity. It inspired me to get my moment and try to qualify.
In Canberra, I made the final of both the 100m and 200m. I also did relays. I remember the 200m because I used to get particularly nervous about that distance. Back then Athletics was just a summer sport for me, as I did lots of other sports growing up. I have fond memories of trips when I was young and it doesn’t really feel like an individual sport when you do that; it was like a big camp where you get to go away with new mates from all parts of New Zealand.
Colgate Games, Inglewood, Taranaki, January 2008
I was 10 years old. It was the first year that you could compete for medals at the Colgate Games, after three years of just participation. After I crossed the line first in the 200m I was crying because I was so happy. I used to get super nervous. I feel like back then – from 10 to 13 years, all throughout Colgates – I put more pressure on myself than I probably do now. I have learnt to manage my nerves a lot more.
In the past I have been my biggest critic and put the most pressure on myself out of anyone. That came from a young age; I had high expectations for myself so crossing the line as a 10-year-old and getting that first medal was overwhelming. It was not only relief but rewarding. Colgate Games was something I had done from the beginning, as a 7-year-old, and at the time it felt like the biggest thing in the world.
Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics’, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns. A football aficionado, Burgess will never forget the noise that greeted Rory Fallon’s goal against Bahrain in Wellington in 2009.
