Hana Basic

Fast Facts 

Sport: Athletics 
Event: 100m 
Olympic History: Tokyo 2020
Coach: John Nicolosi 
Year Born: 1996 
State Born: Melbourne, VIC 

About Hana

Hana Basic was born in 1996 in Victoria, her parents who she says have been her "number one supporters, always", fleeing the war in Bosnia just three years before she was born.

After starting sport as a gymnast when she was in pre-school, Basic’s primary school P.E. teacher saw her athletics potential and encouraged her to go to Nunawading Little Athletics when she was nine.

There was immediate success when Basic went to her first nationals in the Under-10s for high jump and long jump. Hana considered the years of gymnastics, where she was twice state champion, had developed her strength and flexibility. 

By the age of 14, she was already running under 12 seconds for the 100m and winning national sprint titles.

She credits her early success to her first coach, Wayne James. She says "I owe all my junior success to him."

In 2014, aged 18, she had dropped her 100m best to an impressive 11.64  seconds and was selected to compete in the 100m and relay at the 2014 World U20 Championships at Oregon. She ran through a misdiagnosed anterior impingement in her foot, and upon return she had ankle surgery in 2015. 

Over the next few years, she continued to train and was running around 12 seconds, but was completing school, travelling overseas and working while athletics took a backseat.

Basic came back to athletics, changing coaches to John Nicolosi, who she says, is the reason she is where she is today.

She raced regularly in 2017 and 2018, making strong gains and competed in the final of the 100m at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games trials, then for 18 months, she managed a stress injury.

During lockdown in 2020, Basic trained hard and in December 2020, she broke her six-year-old PB and followed this in 2021, setting another three PBs. Overall, Basic had taken her best from 11.64 to 11.18, the last performance at the Queensland Track Classic elevated her to number four in Australian history and within 0.03 seconds of Olympic qualification. 

She won her first national title in 11.23 – the equal fastest winning time in the 90-year history of the race. After some hamstring problems post nationals, she returned to the track in June to clock wind assisted times of 11.14 and 11.20. She anchored the national 4x100m relay team to a very quick time of 43.11 – the second fastest ever by the national squad.

Selected for the Olympics, she was in terrific form competing in Europe ahead of the Games, where she clocked a couple of 11.16 PBs. At the Olympics, Hana placed fifth in her heat in a time of 11.32.