Julia Ratcliffe


Julia Susan Ratcliffe is a New Zealand track and field athlete who specialises in the hammer throw. She won the Gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, having won the Silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Ratcliffe attended Waikato Diocesan School for Girls. In 2017, she graduated from Princeton University, majoring in Economics with a certificate in Political Economy. While at Princeton she broke the Ivy League record for the indoor 20 lb weight throw in her first competition with the implement. In her first outdoor competition she broke the Ivy League record in the hammer throw. In 2014, she was unbeaten in the NCAA, was the NCAA Division 1 Hammer Throw champion and was awarded the USTFCCCA Division 1 Outdoor Field Scholar Athlete of the year. She currently holds the New Zealand national record in the hammer throw with a distance of 72.35 m set in February 2020.

International results – Hammer

YearEventLocationPlace
2008Pacific School GamesCanberra1st
2009Australian Youth Olympic FestivalSydney1st
2009IAAF World Youth ChampionshipsBrixen10th
2010Oceania Youth ChampionshipsSydney1st
2010Youth Olympic GamesSingapore11th
2012Bauhaus Junioren-GalaMannheim1st
2012IAAF World Junior ChampionshipsBarcelona4th
2013World University GamesKazan8th
2014Commonwealth GamesGlasgow2nd
2015World University GamesGwangju3rd
2017IAAF World ChampionshipsLondon26th
2017World University GamesTaipei11th
2018Commonwealth GamesGold Coast1st
2019Oceania Championships in AthleticsTownsville1st
2019IAAF World Athletics ChampionshipsDoha14th

Records – Hammer

YearRecordDistance
2008Pacific School Games – Girls 15 years46.90m
2008New Zealand Secondary Schools – Junior Girls 56.02m
2009Australian Youth Olympic Festival51.94m
2010New Zealand – Women Under 17 56.68m
2011Oceania – Women Under 18 62.28m
2011New Zealand Secondary Schools – Senior Girls 57.67m
2011New Zealand – Women Under 18 62.28m
2012New Zealand – Women Under 1964.21m
2013Oceania – Women Under 2067.00m
2013New Zealand – Women Under 2068.80m
2014Ivy League70.28m
2016New Zealand – Women - Resident69.93m
2016New Zealand – Women - Allcomers69.93m
2019New Zealand – Women71.39m
2019Oceania – Women71.39m

Commonwealth best performances – Hammer

YearBest PerformanceDistance
2010Commonwealth – Youth - 4 kg61.32m
2012Commonwealth – Junior67.00m

Best Performance – 20lb Indoor Weight

YearBest PerformanceMeetingDistance
2017New Zealand Indoor – WomenIvy League Heptagonals20.45m

Other sports

Julia played field hockey for Waikato Diocesan School, captained Waikato Hockey representative teams at three different age levels and was a member of the Waikato representative team that won the national under 14 tournament in 2005.

Video links

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