Australia's Mackenzie Little clinched a bronze medal in the javelin at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest with a final-round throw of 63.38m. The 26-year-old medical student moved from fifth to second place with her last effort, only to be overtaken by Japan's Haruka Kitaguchi, who won gold with 66.73m. Colombia's Flor Denis Ruiz Hurtado took silver with 65.47m.
Little, who is in her final year of medicine at Sydney University, expressed delight at her performance. 'If I'm honest it didn't all come together on the sixth. But I have more, I'm so excited to show you I have more at the Diamond League final and next year (at the Olympics). This is absolutely a dream. This is the highlight of my career,' she said.
Little's bronze was Australia's third medal at the championships. Two-time defending world champion Kelsey-Lee Barber finished seventh with 61.19m, marking the first time since 2017 she has missed a podium at a major event. National record holder Kathryn Mitchell withdrew after tearing her adductor during warm-up.
In other events, Catriona Bisset and Abbey Caldwell were eliminated in the 800m semi-finals, though Caldwell broke the two-minute barrier for the first time. Australia's women's 4x100m relay team failed to finish after a botched baton exchange.
