Eleanor Patterson

As a child, Patterson began participating in high jump. She attended Little Athletics with a friend and quickly fell in love with the sport. Patterson participated in a number of local competitions. At the national junior (under-20) championships in 2011, she finished in second place and ran a personal best of 1.82 m at the age of fourteen.  She won the title again the following year and climbed to 1.87 m that November. At the 2013 World Youth Championships in Athletics, she claimed the gold medal in her maiden international competition by six centimeters, setting a personal best of 1.88 m.

In December, she achieved a new Oceanian junior record and equaled the world youth best held by Charmaine Gale-Weavers set in 1981 and Olga Turchak attained in 1984 in the Australian Schools Championships. In the 2014 season, Patterson frequently cleared 1.90 meters, taking home her first senior national medal at the Australian Athletics Championships in addition to her fourth consecutive Australian junior title. With a leap of 1.92 m, she also prevailed at the Melbourne Track Classic competition. In order to compete for Australia in the 2014 Commonwealth Games, she chose to forego competing in the 2014 World Junior Athletics Championships. She leapt 1.94 m to win the gold medal, proving that the move was successful.

Patterson was not selected for the 2018 Commonwealth Games team. She took a year off as a consequence, then picked up where she left off and qualified for the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2020.   Under the direction of Australian Athletics Olympic team coach Alex Stewart, her form drastically improved. She stated he welcomed her into his team, nurtured her, and provided opportunities for her to grow as an athlete and, more importantly, as a person. In late 2019, she cleared 1.90 meters, but she was not selected for the World Championships 2019. Nevertheless, Patterson qualified for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 and placed fifth in the race.

After breaking the previous Australian Indoor Record with a height of 2.00m in March, Eleanor won the silver medal in the 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade. It was Australia’s first World Indoors medal, and the feat would have won the performer a gold medal at the 2012 and 2016 World Indoor Championships. On July 19, 2022, in Eugene, Patterson moved one position up the podium by earning gold and the overall title with a personal best of 2.02m. With a first-attempt clearing of 2.02 meters, Eleanor took first place in the competition. She matched the record for Australia and claimed the first-ever high jump gold medal for her country.

Her greatest rivals as of now are Mariya Lasitskene and Yaroslava Mahuchikh. Mariya and Yaroslava are both the gold and silver medalists at Tokyo Olympics 2020 in which Eleanor finished fifth. Ukraine’s Yaroslava prevailed over her in the World Championship Indoors 2022, however Eleanor came back strongly at the World Championships 2022 in Oregon to take the gold.

According to reports, Alex Stewart is still the coach of Eleanor Patterson. Alex played an instrumental role in getting back Patterson’s form when her morale was down. Alex is presently the High Performance Coach and National Event Lead in High Jump for Athletics Australia.

Eleanor was born on May 22, 1996, in Leongatha, Victoria, to Helen, a receptionist, and Mark, a partner in a construction business. She  originally became involved in athletics through a friend when she was eight years old. Her primary school teacher at Leongatha’s St. Laurence O’Toole Primary School observed her passion for sports and encouraged her. The town of Leongatha in the South Gippsland Shire, which is 135 kilometers southeast of Melbourne, is where Patterson was raised. She could only train on a grass track because the synthetic facility was closed and an hour away. Patterson was inspired by Kaila McKnight, a 1500-meter Olympian from London, who resided in a nearby little rural community. Observing her compete at the greatest level gave Patterson hope that she might accomplish the same.