‘Less is best’ for sprint queen Zoe Hobbs in athletics world championships quest

Kiwi sprint sensation Zoe Hobbs believes she might just have stumbled on to a successful “less is best” formula for her tilt at history this week at the world athletics championships in Budapest.

It sounds incongruous, but as the 25-year-old Auckland-based Taranaki athlete has carved her way through a breakthrough last couple of years in the sport – smashing through the 11-second barrier, as well as knocking off a Paris Olympics qualifier at the first crack – she has come to a somewhat startling realisation around her best performances. In essence, the less she tries, the better she seems to race in a clear nod to the benefits of running free.

It’s a mindset she says she will do her best to take into her Budapest campaign which will open with heats of what shapes as a compelling 100 metres on Sunday night (NZ time), flowing into semifinals and, hopefully, an historic final appearance on Tuesday. No Kiwi athlete, male or female, has ever progressed to a world championships final over the glamour distance.

In fact, it’s been 99 years since a New Zealander, male or female, last raced in a 100m final at a global championship (Olympics or world champs) – the great Arthur Porritt winning bronze at the 1924 Paris Games.

Hobbs, who revealed she has shaken off a back niggle in the nick of time, has the chance to end that wait. But, maybe, only if she puts the very prospect out of her mind.

“Funnily enough, some of my fastest races have been those where I haven’t expected too much,” she told Stuff from the Kiwi pre-camp in Montpellier as she hit taper-mode in preparations for Hungary. “It’s a bit of a backward concept to grasp for a power athlete who is so used to gritting their way through a race, but to flow and run relaxed and not ‘try too hard’ has been when I’ve run my best.

“It’s something I’m having to learn to execute in races with pressure next to me or in front of me. But removing the pressure of chasing a (Paris) standard makes a massive difference mentally and sometimes physically because it allows you that extra flow.”

Hobbs has had, by anyone’s standards, a decent year as she has continued her rise into the top strata of global sprinting and broken her own national and Oceania record three times. It started over the Kiwi summer when she blazed a wind-assisted 10.89 seconds in Wellington in March, notched her first “legal” sub-11 100 (10.97sec) soon after in Sydney and signed off on the domestic season with a solo 11.02sec effort in Auckland.

To put that into perspective, no Oceania women’s sprinter had ever dipped under 11 seconds. Ever.

Her international campaign has continued apace. There was another 10.97sec in Nairobi in May (just over the legal wind limit), a victory in the weighty Seiko Grand Prix in Tokyo soon after and then, in Europe, a new PB of 10.96sec in Switzerland on July 2 that doubled as an Olympic qualifier that removed a “massive load” from her shoulders.

Since that sub-11 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the times have been more modest (her best was 11.08sec over her last four meets leading into the worlds), which Hobbs has a simple explanation for.

“I have been dealing with a niggly back injury since getting to Europe in June which has been limiting, both from a training and competing perspective. Having access to physio and team support (in Montpellier) has made a massive difference,” she says.

“Since settling into pre-camp, the body has gradually freed up and is now operating niggle and pain-free. That’s been a big box to tick in itself, and it’s exciting to have that heading into Budapest. I feel like things have really started to come together, andI’m finally moving really well.”

Hobbs, for all her quality, will be up against a loaded field in Budapest, headed by six-time world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica, sizzling compatriot Shericka Jackson, classy American Sha’Carri Richardson and in-form veteran Marie-Josee Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast.

Jackson has run 10.65sec this year, Richardson 10.71 and Ta Lou 10.75, while Fraser-Pryce, who has a best of 10.82 in ‘23, cannot be discounted after a late start to her season due to a knee injury. All told there are 10 women in the field who have run faster than Hobbs this year.

You wonder whether she looks at that level of competition as intimidating or inspiring?

“It’s an exciting challenge and one where I’ve got absolutely nothing to lose,” declares Hobbs, clearly leaning into that no-pressure mindset.

“My focus just needs to be on executing the right race and trying to compose myself so I can run relaxed and just flow. That’s easier said than done, but it’s the goal and if I can do that then the results will be there – hopefully both time and progression wise.”

Hobbs is no greenhorn now. This is her third world championships, and at last year’s edition in Eugene she made it as far as the semifinal round (before bowing out with an 11.13sec run for fifth). She was also an upgraded fifth at the Commonwealth Games, safely traversing a heat and semifinal before the big one.

Throw in that she’s run the four fastest (legal) times of her career this season, and two other sub-11s that were too breezy, and it’s little wonder that Hobbs heads into Budapest with a spring in her step.

“Given my body is in a much better place in pre-camp and with training going the best it has since I came to Europe, it feels really good. Knowing that I was in less than optimal condition for the past several weeks and still running consistently well gives me confidence.”.

Throw in the fact she will have coach James Mortimer, who has been in Europe for the last month, on hand for his first world champs (Covid scuppered his trip last year) and it’s an equation tinged with possibility.

Adds Hobbs: “Being such a technical event, having live feedback has been hugely beneficial from a training point of view and him being able to assist at meets in Europe has also helped make them feel a lot less foreign.”

The ingredients are there. The mindset too. It now just remains to be seen whether Hobbs can negotiate her way through a field dripping with quality.

Kiwi contenders – 5 of the best

Aside from shot put hopefuls Tom Walsh and Jacko Gill (final early Sunday), here are five other New Zealanders looking to make their mark in Budapest (times NZ):

Eliza McCartney (pole vault): qualifying Tuesday 4.40am; final Thursday 5.30am

The Rio Olympic bronze medallist is finally injury-free and in rhythm, and after clearing 4.85m in the leadup (beaten only by world champ Katie Moon this year) looks a hot medal prospect. Compatriots Olivia McTaggart and Imogen Ayris in the field too.

Hamish Kerr (high jump): qualifying Sunday 8.35pm; final Wednesday 5.55am

The Christchurch-based athlete ranks equal third in an even field on ‘23 performances, and if he clears something around his PB of 2.34m he’s a chance to add to his world indoors bronze of ‘22.

Geordie Beamish (3000m steeplechase): heats Saturday; final Wednesday 7.42am

A Kiwi in the jumps event … remember Euan Robertson? The US-based athlete has made big strides in his debut season, breaking a 39-year-old NZ record last month with a stunning 8:13.26. Top-eight chance.

Sam Tanner (1500m): heats Sunday 5.02am; semis Monday 3.35am; final Thursday 7.15am

Bolstered by a PB 3:31.24 in July, the Tauranga athlete has the kick to make his way through a red-hot field headed by Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen. Will need luck, but has the quality to do something special.

Tori Peeters (javelin): qualifying Wednesday 8.20, 9.55pm; final Aug 26 6.20am

Heads a strong women’s field event assault alongside Maddi Wesche (shot put) and Lauren Bruce (hammer), and a top-six chance after a national record 63.26m in May. Just six in the field have thrown further this year.