Three years after becoming the only woman from the Southern Hemisphere to achieve a javelin world championship gold, 30-year-old Kelsey-Lee Barber once again re-wrote the history books on July 22 when she successfully defended her title in Oregon, US, becoming the first ever back-to-back women's javelin World Champion.

A little over two weeks later in Birmingham (UK), Kelsey completed her trio of Commonwealth Games medals with a stunning final-throw win, pipping her Australian team-mate for the gold.  

Her stellar 2022 winning streak continued in Monaco mere days later on August 10 where she secured her inaugural Diamond League event win – the top tier of one-day international athletics competitions.

Kelsey’s incredible 2022 season solidified her reputation for being a clutch thrower, never to be discounted until the final throw is over and always delivering when it matters most.

In 2021, Kelsey achieved her ultimate dream of becoming an Olympic medallist when she took bronze in the thrilling finale of the Women’s Javelin Throw in Tokyo.  The tension was immense leading up to Kelsey’s last throw of the night and she didn’t disappoint, delivering her best throw of the games yet, a mere hair’s breadth away from silver. After a frustratingly slow start to the season, Kelsey let her throwing do the talking and drawing on the confidence of her recent world-stage success, performed when it mattered most.

The fantastic result marked Kelsey in the record books as only the fourth ever Australian to achieve an Olympic medal in a throwing sport and the sole athlete to do so in the last 25 years.  Kelsey became the sixth out of a total of only seven Australian women to ever earn a medal in Field sports in modern Olympic history.

By her own admission, Kelsey is a relatively late starter to her sport, having only begun throwing javelins when she was 17. However, by the time she was 22, she was representing Australia. Kelsey made her international debut in 2014 at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow where she came away with a bronze medal.  It was at this point Kelsey felt she had what it took to throw far and began travelling the world doing what she loved most.

Prior to the Tokyo Olympics, Kelsey had taken Australian, Oceanic and Commonwealth (x2) medals and represented Australia at the Rio Olympics in 2016 (where injury prevented her from realising her full potential).  But it was in 2019 when the Brisbane-based athlete’s career truly shot skyward.

Kelsey recorded her PB throw of 67.70m at the Spitzen Leichathletik Lurzern Athletics meeting, placing her 12th (at the time, now 14th) on the World Athletics all-time list and followed it up by ticking off a massive lifetime goal when she took gold in a nail-biting final at the Doha IAAF World Championship.  By the end of the 2019 season, Kelsey had risen to a career best World #1 ranking which she maintained for an impressive 36 consecutive weeks (she’s held the top spot for a total of 44 weeks to-date).  The double-world champ is currently ranked World #2.

While Kelsey turned the extended Covid-enforced break from competition during 2020 and the beginning of 2021 into a personal challenge, she admits she struggled on returning to in-person events in 2021, proving how crucial competition is for athletes. Kelsey’s steely determination pushed her through the tougher moments and she has proved time and time again that she is a world-class formidable athlete, able to deliver at the big events when it comes to the crunch.  

Living with her husband and coach, Mike Barber, the relentless young Australian doesn’t rest on her laurels. Every day she sprints, she lifts weight, she bounds, she sleeps.  Then she does it all over again.  She is not afraid of hard work, it’s what it takes to win, and Kelsey wants to be the best.