Ava Ross

Happy monumental birthday to Australia’s sprinter Ava Ross, who closes out a U18 career in which she got faster every single season and never once went backwards.

Look at the progression on its own: 12.14 as an under-16, 12.09 the next year, 11.91 the year after, and 11.89 last September. Four seasons, four improvements, no plateau anywhere. Sprinters do not usually get that. Most careers move in steps and stalls, and an athlete who has never had a season go the wrong way is telling you something about how the training is being managed as much as about the talent.

The medals came with it. At the Australian All Schools Championships in Melbourne last December she took bronze in the U18 100m in 11.98, then ran a leg for New South Wales in the 4x100m and came away with gold in 45.18. Two years earlier at the same championships she had taken bronze in the U16 100m. At the Australian Junior Championships in Perth she made both sprint finals, placing fifth over 100m in 11.91, and ran another relay leg for NSW to bronze. Over the winter she took her indoor 60m to 7.49, and to 7.39 in a race with the timing wind behind her.

That is a national relay title, three individual national All Schools medals across two age groups, and finals at the Australian Junior Championships in both sprints. Congratulations on the end of a genuinely excellent U18 career — and welcome to the first day of a U20 one, which she starts with the best times of her life and a curve that has still not flattened out.

Happy birthday, Ava! Wishing you a cracker of a year ahead — good health, good luck and plenty more fast ones. Have a ripper of a day! 🎂🎁🎉🫶🫶🇦🇺