Lauren Boden is this week's track beauty!
In the post-Jana Pittman years, Boden is Australia's best bet in the women's 400m hurdles. Lauren is a six-time Australian champion, a title which she first won back in 2005 as a teenager. That same year, Boden went on to compete at the World Youth Championships in Marrakech, where she won silver (58.30s), on top of her 10th (5.98m) place in the long jump. Boden ran a bit better at the World Junior Championships in Beijing the next year (58.05s), but crashed out at the semifinals.
Boden at the Daegu World Championships. (Photo from Zimbio/Getty Images Europe/Chris McGrath)
The one-lap hurdles specialist has a personal best of 55.25s from 2010. Boden is a 6.40m long jumper at her best, a mark she had set in Bangkok at the 2007 World University Games. According to her IAAF stat sheet, Lauren had competed in both the 400m hurdles and the long jump up until 2007, when she decided to focus on the former.
The Australian is a two-time Commonwealth Games veteran, making her debut in 2006 at the Melbourne Games. Boden was part of the Australian 4x400m quartet that won Commonwealth Games silver in Delhi back in 2010. At the Daegu World Championships, her first major international, Boden ran a lifetime best of 55.78s in the preliminary round, but failed to advance to the final.
Lauren, who trains with 2000 Sydney Olympian Matt Beckenham, secured an early ticket to the London Olympics last February. She bettered the Olympic "A" standard of 55.50s by five-hundredths of a second, en route to her victory at the Sydney Track Classic.
Boden might be be two seconds slower than the more illustrious - and controversial - Pittman-Rawlinson, but her improvement has been gradual. Boden would have to run the race of her life in London, for her to break into the magic eight. For an athlete as focused and motivated as Lauren, the conditions are ripe for success.
Boden might be be two seconds slower than the more illustrious - and controversial - Pittman-Rawlinson, but her improvement has been gradual. Boden would have to run the race of her life in London, for her to break into the magic eight. For an athlete as focused and motivated as Lauren, the conditions are ripe for success.
Sources:
Athletics Australia
IAAF
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