Aleksandra's Story
After becoming an Australian champion in primary school, Aleksandra Stoilova started formally training. Through her teenage years she collected many 100m/200m national titles and continued to trim her PB, going on to be selected for the 2022 World U20 Championships.
This year, in her second year at college in America, while still in her teens, she placed fourth at the Australian Open Championships and clocked 11.30 in the 100m, elevating her to third fastest junior in Australian history.
Aleks Stoilova’s journey in athletics started in Tiny Tots at Ambarvale Little Athletics. By year six, she had won a National Primary schools 100m title.
“After that competition I felt like I wanted to train properly for track and mum saw my potential.”
Aleks’ mum had been a national hurdler in Macedonia and was keen for Aleks to do athletics.
But athletics was only one of many sports Aleks was involved with when growing up.
“I was a very sporty kid. My parents put me in gymnastics, AFL, soccer and athletics.” She would later need to decide between soccer and athletics, with athletics winning due to her passion for the sport.
Into her teenage years Aleks continued to remain one of Australia’s best sprinters for her age, winning national titles. Her mid-teen years have been affected by COVID, with competition cancellations, but each year she still has been able to trim her PB. Her impressive 100m progression has been 2018/19 - 12.21 (13 years), 2019/20 - 12.05 (14 years), 2020/21 – 11.83 (15 years), then 2021/22 – 11.68 (16 years).
At the end of the 2021 summer, she was selected in the Australian U20 team, that didn’t travel to the World Juniors, but 12 months on she was running even better, lowering her PB to 11.68 at the Melbourne Track Classic in March 2022 which coincided with a National relay camp.
But unfortunately, Aleks injured her hamstring, forcing her out of Nationals. The selectors had faith in her and selected her in the relay for the World U20 Championships.
“It was the biggest challenge that I have faced - having confidence within myself. When injuring my hamstring it forced me to become mentally stronger and set my head right. I am so grateful to my coach for staying by my side and creating a rehab plan that would get me back to training within the next month. Along with the support of my family and all of the team coaches, managers and physios that were down in Melbourne.”
At the 2022 World U20 Championships in Columbia in August, Aleks ran the first leg on the 4x100m relay helping the National team to sixth in the final.
Early in 2023 she headed off to America to study at a college in Pittsburgh and her times tumbled clocking 11.50 (100m) and 23.58 (200m). For the 2023/24 season she moved to Clemson University in Georgia. Her series of performances in 2024, while still only 18, were breathtaking. In addition to taking her 60m indoor best down to 7.31, second fastest in Australian history, she clocked 11.36 in the 100m and a slightly windy (2.5m/s) 11.15. At 200m she ran 23.17 – number 7 Australian U20 all-time.
She travelled to Adelaide in April to complete at the Australian championships where she won the under-20 100m national title (11.46). She then tackled the open titles and progressed to the final placing a brilliant fourth in 11.43. She returned to the US where she ran fourth consecutive PBs (11.35, 11.35, 11.31, 11.30), just missing qualification for the NCAA finals. She had become the third fastest junior in Australian history – only Torrie Lewis and Raelene Boyle had run quicker.
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