Mackenzie Little’s extraordinary ability to combine her lives as a fulltime doctor and a professional athlete has been rewarded with a hugely rewarding javelin bronze medal at the world athletics championships in Tokyo.
Little got off to a flying start in Saturday’s final, producing her best throw of 63.58m in the opening round.
Ecuador’s Juleisy Angulo topped that with a national record of 65.12m in the second round and Latvia’s Anete Sietina (64.64m) improved to second with her final effort.
It was the shortest distance for a winning throw in world championships history – not that it mattered much to to Angulo, Sietina or Little.
Dr Little works fulltime at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, but somehow still finds the time to traverse the world competing at the Diamond League meets.
She was hard at it in the hectic emergency department in the last week, where she saved a man’s life who was suffering a heart attack, before joining the Australian team for the Tokyo world titles.
Dr Mackenzie Little claimed a javelin bronze at the World Athletics Championships
Little got off to a flying start in Saturday’s final, producing her best throw of 63.58m in the opening round
‘It’s easy to say I have this wonderful balance and that things work perfectly together when I’ve got a nice medal around my neck,’ said Little.
‘But I have maintained, even when things have been hard, that this is best for me.
‘I compete the best when I’m really happy and fulfilled in my life and work is so fulfilling at the moment for me.’
It was also redemption of sorts after Little finished a dispiriting last in the final at the Paris Olympics.
‘If you’d spoken to me two days ago, to say that I had a medal today I’d be just thrilled,’ she said.
‘This is just such a reward for myself for some really hard work, some really lonely work this season.
‘I’d like to think it’s a bit of redemption from the Olympics and it’s more reflective of what I can do.
‘I’m thrilled.’
Dr Little works fulltime at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney
Little said that she was ‘thrilled’ with her performance at the meet
It was the 28-year-old’s second successive podium finish at a world championships, having claimed bronze in Budapest in 2023.
It was also Australia’s third medal of the 2025 championships, with Kurtis Marschall (men’s pole vault) and Jessica Hull (women’s 1500m) also pocketing bronze.
The women’s javelin has been a rich source of medals for Australia at the world championships, including back-to-back golds by Kelsey Lee-Barber in 2109 and 2022.
The Australian men’s 4x400m relay team were disqualified for an illegal handover, minutes after they had seemingly smashed a 41-year-old national record.
The team of Cooper Sherman, Reece Holder, Aidan Murphy and Tom Reynolds crossed the line third in the fastest of the two heats in two minutes 58.00 seconds.
The time was the third fastest overall and would have seen Australia qualify automatically for Sunday’s final.
But they were disqualified after third-leg runner Murphy was deemed to have stepped over the line before accepting the baton from Holder.
Australian officials lodged an appeal, which was dismissed.
Had the time stood, it would have bettered the previous record of 2:59.70 set way back at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, when an Australian team including national 400m record holder Darren Clark and 1980 Olympic silver medallist Rick Mitchell finished fourth in the final.
The news was better for the men’s 4x100m team, anchored by Rohan Browning, which progressed to Sunday’s final as the fastest of the two non-automatic qualifiers in 38.21 seconds.
A stacked Jamaican team including 100m individual champion Oblique Seville was disqualified after botching the final changeover.
The Australian women’s 4x100m team made a mess of their first changeover and the women’s 4x400m squad also failed to advance.
Beatrice Chebet blew past Faith Kipyegon in the final straight of the women’s 5000m to win the battle of the Kenyan superstars in 14:54.36.
Australians Rose Davies and Linden Hall were 10th and 11th.
Camryn Newton-Smith and Tori West were 16th and 17th in a heptathlon won by American Anna Hall with 6888 points.
