Australian National Record for Mighty Mickle

Published On: 24 March 2014

Kim Mickle is the Australian Record holder after setting a new personal best of 66.83m

WAIS athlete Kim Mickle has achieved a significant slice of athletics history after setting a new Australian Record in the women’s javelin at the weekend IAAF Melbourne World Challenge.

Mickle set the new mark with a lifetime best of 66.83m to take victory on Saturday night, and in doing so, achieve a personal milestone that the she has coveted for years.

“I don’t feel like it has even happened, I can’t say that it’s a relief or anything like that because it doesn’t feel real, but when I get home and I look back at the tape I think I will begin to understand what I have done and how great it is,” Mickle said.

The 2013 World Championship medallist unleashed the historic throw on her third attempt, off the back of a summer campaign that has regularly seen her threaten to break an Australian Record that had belonged to Louise Currey, and had stood since the turn of the millennium.

That it was Currey’s record, makes the achievement all the more special for the Perth star, with Mickle listing the Olympic silver medallist as one of her sporting role models. Mickle had the opportunity to meet her idol for the first time at an Athletics Australia function in the week leading to the Melbourne event.

“I can’t believe it, it is the best thing ever. This week was surreal. I met my idol for the first time earlier in the week and then tonight had Kathryn (Australian Flame teammate Kathryn Mitchell) pushing me so hard to perform well simply because she was throwing big too. It is like a script. I felt good coming here, have been working really hard, and it is so exciting that’s for sure.”

With the Australian Championships on the horizon, Commonwealth Games selection is looking a formality for Mickle, who has posted A-Qualifying standards at each tour event she has thrown at in 2014. A win at the national titles in April, will guarantee her spot for Glasgow, where the current WAIS Athlete of the Year will be hoping to go one better than the silver medal she won in 2010 at the Delhi Games.