Stephanie Ratcliffe

Overcoming a challenging couple of years during the pandemic when she lived between Melbourne and Harvard College in America, Stephanie Ratcliffe broke through in 2023 improving 10 metres in the hammer throw and breaking the 20-year-old Australia record. Unfortunately, when preparing for her Olympic year she discovered in December 2023 she had a stress fracture in her back.

Stephanie Ratcliffe recalled the start of her journey in athletics.

“I remember dad taking me to the Doncaster track one Saturday morning to watch little athletics and straight away I told him I wanted to try it. I was very disappointed when he told me I had to wait another year before I could start because I was too young! I started athletics when I was five at Doncaster Little Athletics Club.”

She enjoyed every event and especially the hurdles, discus and shot put, ahead of focusing on throwing events aged 12. She picked up a hammer a month before she turned 13 after watching someone throw it at training. It wasn’t until she was 16, she decided to focus all her training time on hammer.

Stephanie made good progress winning Victorian titles and national junior medals through her late teens.

In 2019 she won the Australian U20 hammer throw title and now had a PB of 59.82. Just before the pandemic, in late 2019, she took up a scholarship in America. She was seeking a better balance between her academics and athletics and to be exposed to a higher level of competition. When COVID-19 hit in March 2020, she returned to Melbourne.

“I came back home to study remotely for 18 months and my training took a massive step back. Throughout this period, I only trained for six weeks in the lead up to the 2021 Australian champs.”

Later in 2021 she returned to America for one semester before a return to Australia where during 2022 she took summer classes remotely and extra subjects during her final two semesters.

“I spent 2022 focusing on athletics and building some really consistent training habits and finally fell back in love with the sport again.”

For her last year at Harvard, she returned to America and her performances were on the improve. While in Australia during 2022 her best throw was 64.04m and she won her second national silver medal, but one year on she would add 10 metres to that PB level.

She competed indoors in 2023, throwing the weight implement (9kg) an Ivy-League and Harvard record of 21.88m. Outdoors, from January 2023, she set seven PBs, starting with 64.04m, then 64.66m, 66.18m, 67.61m, 70.15m, 70.59m, 73.11m, 73.63m. She was undefeated until July in Europe and set PBs and Australian records in her two biggest meets, her NCAA regionals and the NCAA final. The Australian record had stood for 20 years and her 73.63m throw was a world championships qualifier and no.8 in the world for 2023. At the world championships in Budapest, Stephanie threw 69.87m in the qualifying rounds.

Ahead of her 2024 season, she sustained an injury which prevented her from training for three months. She eventually resumed competition in April. Two 70 metre throws in June put her in contention to qualify for the Paris Olympics through World Athletics points.