New Zealand's fastest female sprinter of all time, Zoe Hobbs, became the first New Zealand female sprinter to compete at the Olympic Games since 1976.
Now she will attend the International track meet in Christchurch next weekend.
Zoe Hobbs talks to Piney about what she's taken away from Paris, disappointment in the semi-final, staying composed, and the next records she's set her sights on.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Zoey Hobbs is New Zealand's fastest female sprinter of all time.
Last year, she became the first New Zealand female sprinter
to compete at the Olympic Game since nineteen seventy six,
and the first Kiwi sprinter to reach the semifinals at
the Olympics in a century.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
She got away nicely, Zoe Hobbs in the middle of
the field and leads through twenty meters. Julian Elfred down
here in late nine. Zoe Hobbs leads through eighty meters.
She's going to be second. She's going to go through
to the semis. Zoe Hobbs eleven eight.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Zoey Hobbs is with us on Weekend Sport ahead of
her appearance at the International Track Meet in christ Church
this weekend. Zoe, thanks for joining us. Let's start last
year with the chance to reflect a little bit. What
were the main things that you took away from your
appearance at the Paris Olympics last year.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Yeah, I mean I turned up in one of the
best shapes I've ever been in and I'm really happy
with how I managed to.
Speaker 5 (01:07):
Execute the heat.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
It was one of the best when normalized times that
I'd run in my lifetime, So yeah, I was close
to my best and I ran that heat really relaxed
and feeling good going into the semi. One of my
biggest reflections from the Games was just how I executed
the semi.
Speaker 5 (01:25):
I didn't move off the line, and.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
As we know, with the short sprints, you can't make
any room for eric because there's no room to make
it back up. So that was one of the biggest
things I took away from the Games, just managing to
compose myself under that pressure. And one of the learnings
from the games as well was just how much noise
goes on in the stadium. I wasn't quite used to
that in the past, like I've never experienced that from
(01:47):
Diamond Leagues or from a World Chance in the past.
So now having gained that experience, I know that that's
something to expect and something that I can practice going
into future campaigns. There was a lot of positives to
take away, but yeah, obviously a little bit disappointed with
how I executed that semi final. Obviously the goal was
to make the final.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, you ran the heat in eleven I eight. We
just listened to it, and that would have got you
close to the final if you'd run eleven o eight
in the semi final. Was it a bit gutting that
you couldn't back up your excellent performance in the heat
in the semi final, Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
And I knew as soon Like often sometimes you'll finish
a race and not quite know what went wrong, I
knew as soon as I finished that I just missed
the race up and it was right from the start.
My reaction was terrible. Usually the best part of my
race is the first ten to twenty meters, and from
the first step I was already behind. So I knew
that I'd missed up that part of the race. And
(02:42):
the disappointing thing was I was in the bear shape
i'd been in a long time. And yeah, having run
the heat in eleven o eight into a hidin when normalized,
one of the best times I'd produced, I felt relaxed,
and having yeah, running eleven o eight relaxed. It was
all voting while going into that semi final. It's just yeah,
how I managed to pull the trigger and it didn't
(03:03):
quite come together, But that sport.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Indeed it is. We spoke about eighteen months ago, I
think it was, and you talked about one of your
work ons being not tensing up so much in the
last thirty meters of your races. Is that something you've
got better at?
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Yeah, I think worth experience. The more races that I
immerse myself into during the season, the more I can
practice that. So if we take the last month, for example,
having run a few races now, even two indoors internationally
and a sixty, the starter is amplified. If you don't
get the reaction right or the first team to twenty meters,
(03:41):
then you're trying to crawl it back for fifty more meters,
which is a blink of a couple of seconds. So yeah,
the more I immerse myself in races, the more I
can practice composing myself. I sort of just need to
get those first races out of my system and line
up next to pressure and really fuel you know, yeah,
(04:02):
fuel the pressure next to me and just let it
be sort of. Yeah, the more immerse myself and races,
the more I can practice just running in my own
lane and blocking out the noise next to me. And
that's one of the reflections that I had from last
year is I didn't actually race as much in twenty
twenty four and the lead up to the Games as
what I did in twenty twenty three. So just taking
(04:22):
from that learning and I think something that we want
to apply for twenty twenty five is immersing myself in
more races and getting more race experience to really practice
not tensing up in the later half of the race.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
I just want to ask you more about where you're
placing your focus to make those improvements in a moment.
But as far as breaking eleven seconds is concerned, you're
the first key we woman need to do it over
one hundred meters. You've done it a few times now.
Is breaking that eleven second barrier something which is now
a little bit addictive for you?
Speaker 5 (04:51):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (04:51):
I always want to be better, and I think, yeah,
like I'd love to get back to that place of
breaking eleven seconds again. That's the sort of mark that
you're looking at if you want to make a World
champ final or even an Olympic final. It's not what
we saw this year, but generally that's around the mark
that you have to be to make that.
Speaker 5 (05:10):
Yeah, the world sort of level final.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
So I'd love to be at a point where I
can consistently break eleven seconds, not just doing it once
or twice a year. Yeah, I'd love to be consistently
breaking that barrier.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
So yeah, right, well, let's talk about how you do
that more regularly. And you alluded to it slightly before
blocking out some of the noise in the stadium, staying
in your lane, that sort of thing. Where are you
placing your focus specifically as you look to run sub
eleven or close to it more regularly.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
Yeah, I'm working with a great team. I actually made
a team change at the end of twenty twenty three.
There's a lot of physical, biomechanical changes that we've made
over the last twelve months. I used to run with
a this is getting really technical, but a right wall collapse.
(06:03):
I was leaking a lot of energy and how I
was running. So we've cleaned a bit of that up,
changing some of my trying to get like more terminal extensions.
So if we think about it simply, it's like trying
to get more hip pipe so that I'm striking the
ground higher and able to get more out of my stride. So, yeah,
(06:24):
I've worked with a new team to try and create
these changes. It's just not something that's going to happen overnight,
and we're slowly shipping away and trying to make it
natural in some of the team post stuff that we're
doing in training. But when it comes to racing, you
can't think about technical changes. You've just got to let
it go. So we're hoping that it overtime leads into
(06:46):
some of my races. But we have seen a big
physical change in how I'm starting to race compared to
where I was twelve months ago, so hopefully that just
continually changes over time.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Man, there is you know, you talk about it being technical.
There it's obviously so technical and just these little changes
in the way that you run. So are you watching
a lot of footage with your team to identify some
things which you might want to change and then working
on making those things happen subconsciously without even thinking about it.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Yeah, So it's all the stuff that we're working and training.
It's easier to work on the technical changes in things
like the gym or tempo running, so not at that
maximal pace, but then when we go to do fast,
faster stuff like for example, flying thirties or even when
it comes time to being in an actual race, you
don't have time. You can't afford to think about how
(07:38):
you're going to technically run, because as soon as you think,
when you're running, then you're just going to be running
slow because you're spending too much time thinking. So the
idea is like, yeah, when we're doing stuff in the gym,
we're trying to bring in new exercises and buy mechanics
and things to try and fix.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
Up some of my flaws, I guess, and.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Like the tempo running, having time to think about how
to change the mechanics so that over time just bleeds
into my actual fast running.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
All right, well, let's look ahead to twenty twenty five
and what it might hold for you. You recently, in
the last couple of weeks qualified for the World Indoor
Champs in the sixty meters, so you've got that locked in.
At the back end of March, the New Zealand National
Champs or a couple of weeks before that. What are
the other key events are your targeting in twenty twenty five?
Speaker 4 (08:27):
So short term, this weekend I'm racing at ITM and
christ Church and that's as you say, two weeks before
the National Championships and then wilder doors mid to late March,
and then looking beyond that my outdoor international campaign will start.
I'm hoping around May. I'm looking to target the Dohad
(08:49):
Diamond League again. I went there two years ago and
as a meat that I loved. The season is looking
quite different to how it has in the past, so
World Athletics have now structured the World Championships to be
the last the last race on the calendar, to make
that like the final hit stop. So it's going to
(09:10):
be quite a long season of racing. I think I'm
going to split out my season at still got to
work through finalizing a plan, but I think I'm going
to do Europe twice, so going over from May to
July ish coming home for a bit of a block
because there's a window of about two to three weeks
where there's nothing on in Europe for me to compete in.
(09:31):
That's usually when they do the European and American Nationals window.
Get a reset by coming back with my team and
then go back in August for some more competitions ahead
of the World Championships in September.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Is the next Olympics in twenty twenty eight already on
your radar.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
Yep, for sure.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Yeah, we look four years ahead, and obviously, being in
the sport of athletics, the Olympics is one of the
pinnacles for us. Obviously a world champcess has got the
same people and it's still a focused short term but yeah,
the Olympics for.
Speaker 5 (10:07):
Us in athletics is there the pinnacle.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
As I mentioned before, we're trying to work on a
lot of technical changes, so hopefully in another four years time.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
I will have become more.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
Yeah, more tuned to some of those changes, and yeah,
I think it's it's all about building towards Yeah, the
next four years.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
All right, good to know that you're going around again.
I heard you say in an interview. I think it
was before the last Olympics that growing up you wondered
if your dream of going to the Olympic Games was
one that was too big, But clearly it wasn't because
you made it to Paris in twenty twenty four. So
having been to one Olympic Games, do you now have
an even deeper desire to go to another one and
(10:50):
do even better once you're there?
Speaker 5 (10:52):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Oh for sure, Yeah, for sure, Like I think as
I've grown throughout the sport, my goals have also changed.
Once upon a time, as you'd alluded to it, like
to go to the Olympics seemed like a bold dream
and for a long time it was even chatted amongst
circles that the only way you could make it major
as a sprinter in New Zealand would be through relay
(11:14):
and not individually. And as I've chipped away and got
closer and closer to qualifying times, I saw it as
more of a an opportunity. And now that I'm at
the level I'm at, my goals have changed. I don't
just want to be there to be a competitor. I
don't want to just be there to be just represent
to New Zealand and be a person in a race.
(11:35):
I actually want to make the final and go even.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
Further with it. So yeah, for sure, la Is is
definitely a goal.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Fantastic Well, we can't wait to see what plays out
for you over the next three years as you head
towards Los Angeles. Zoe, thanks so much for being so
generous with your time having a chat to us. All
the best in christ Us this weekend and then on
towards the events that lie hit. Really appreciate you taking
the time for a chat. Thank you, no, thank you, Zoe,
Zoe Hobbs. There some pretty pretty specific answers there about
(12:08):
finding improvements, But I guess that's the nature of top
level sport, isn't it. You know, you seek any way
of making an improvement, and in track and field the
likes of you know, one hundred meters where every split
second is so important, you do whatever you cold, wouldn't
you to try and find those improvements. Yeah, just can't
wait to see if, Zoe Hobbs, over the next three
(12:31):
and a half years, can you make a charge towards
Los Angeles, get back to the Olympics and who knows,
maybe even make the final and once you're there, who knows.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to News Talk z B weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Zoey Hobbs is New Zealand's fastest female sprinter of all time.
Last year, she became the first New Zealand female sprinter
to compete at the Olympic Game since nineteen seventy six,
and the first Kiwi sprinter to reach the semifinals at
the Olympics in a century.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
She got away nicely, Zoe Hobbs in the middle of
the field and leads through twenty meters. Julian Elfred down
here in late nine. Zoe Hobbs leads through eighty meters.
She's going to be second. She's going to go through
to the semis. Zoe Hobbs eleven eight.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Zoey Hobbs is with us on Weekend Sport ahead of
her appearance at the International Track Meet in christ Church
this weekend. Zoe, thanks for joining us. Let's start last
year with the chance to reflect a little bit. What
were the main things that you took away from your
appearance at the Paris Olympics last year.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Yeah, I mean I turned up in one of the
best shapes I've ever been in and I'm really happy
with how I managed to.
Speaker 5 (01:07):
Execute the heat.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
It was one of the best when normalized times that
I'd run in my lifetime, So yeah, I was close
to my best and I ran that heat really relaxed
and feeling good going into the semi. One of my
biggest reflections from the Games was just how I executed
the semi.
Speaker 5 (01:25):
I didn't move off the line, and.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
As we know, with the short sprints, you can't make
any room for eric because there's no room to make
it back up. So that was one of the biggest
things I took away from the Games, just managing to
compose myself under that pressure. And one of the learnings
from the games as well was just how much noise
goes on in the stadium. I wasn't quite used to
that in the past, like I've never experienced that from
(01:47):
Diamond Leagues or from a World Chance in the past.
So now having gained that experience, I know that that's
something to expect and something that I can practice going
into future campaigns. There was a lot of positives to
take away, but yeah, obviously a little bit disappointed with
how I executed that semi final. Obviously the goal was
to make the final.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, you ran the heat in eleven I eight. We
just listened to it, and that would have got you
close to the final if you'd run eleven o eight
in the semi final. Was it a bit gutting that
you couldn't back up your excellent performance in the heat
in the semi final, Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
And I knew as soon Like often sometimes you'll finish
a race and not quite know what went wrong, I
knew as soon as I finished that I just missed
the race up and it was right from the start.
My reaction was terrible. Usually the best part of my
race is the first ten to twenty meters, and from
the first step I was already behind. So I knew
that I'd missed up that part of the race. And
(02:42):
the disappointing thing was I was in the bear shape
i'd been in a long time. And yeah, having run
the heat in eleven o eight into a hidin when normalized,
one of the best times I'd produced, I felt relaxed,
and having yeah, running eleven o eight relaxed. It was
all voting while going into that semi final. It's just yeah,
how I managed to pull the trigger and it didn't
(03:03):
quite come together, But that sport.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Indeed it is. We spoke about eighteen months ago, I
think it was, and you talked about one of your
work ons being not tensing up so much in the
last thirty meters of your races. Is that something you've
got better at?
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Yeah, I think worth experience. The more races that I
immerse myself into during the season, the more I can
practice that. So if we take the last month, for example,
having run a few races now, even two indoors internationally
and a sixty, the starter is amplified. If you don't
get the reaction right or the first team to twenty meters,
(03:41):
then you're trying to crawl it back for fifty more meters,
which is a blink of a couple of seconds. So yeah,
the more I immerse myself in races, the more I
can practice composing myself. I sort of just need to
get those first races out of my system and line
up next to pressure and really fuel you know, yeah,
(04:02):
fuel the pressure next to me and just let it
be sort of. Yeah, the more immerse myself and races,
the more I can practice just running in my own
lane and blocking out the noise next to me. And
that's one of the reflections that I had from last
year is I didn't actually race as much in twenty
twenty four and the lead up to the Games as
what I did in twenty twenty three. So just taking
(04:22):
from that learning and I think something that we want
to apply for twenty twenty five is immersing myself in
more races and getting more race experience to really practice
not tensing up in the later half of the race.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
I just want to ask you more about where you're
placing your focus to make those improvements in a moment.
But as far as breaking eleven seconds is concerned, you're
the first key we woman need to do it over
one hundred meters. You've done it a few times now.
Is breaking that eleven second barrier something which is now
a little bit addictive for you?
Speaker 5 (04:51):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (04:51):
I always want to be better, and I think, yeah,
like I'd love to get back to that place of
breaking eleven seconds again. That's the sort of mark that
you're looking at if you want to make a World
champ final or even an Olympic final. It's not what
we saw this year, but generally that's around the mark
that you have to be to make that.
Speaker 5 (05:10):
Yeah, the world sort of level final.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
So I'd love to be at a point where I
can consistently break eleven seconds, not just doing it once
or twice a year. Yeah, I'd love to be consistently
breaking that barrier.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
So yeah, right, well, let's talk about how you do
that more regularly. And you alluded to it slightly before
blocking out some of the noise in the stadium, staying
in your lane, that sort of thing. Where are you
placing your focus specifically as you look to run sub
eleven or close to it more regularly.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
Yeah, I'm working with a great team. I actually made
a team change at the end of twenty twenty three.
There's a lot of physical, biomechanical changes that we've made
over the last twelve months. I used to run with
a this is getting really technical, but a right wall collapse.
(06:03):
I was leaking a lot of energy and how I
was running. So we've cleaned a bit of that up,
changing some of my trying to get like more terminal extensions.
So if we think about it simply, it's like trying
to get more hip pipe so that I'm striking the
ground higher and able to get more out of my stride. So, yeah,
(06:24):
I've worked with a new team to try and create
these changes. It's just not something that's going to happen overnight,
and we're slowly shipping away and trying to make it
natural in some of the team post stuff that we're
doing in training. But when it comes to racing, you
can't think about technical changes. You've just got to let
it go. So we're hoping that it overtime leads into
(06:46):
some of my races. But we have seen a big
physical change in how I'm starting to race compared to
where I was twelve months ago, so hopefully that just
continually changes over time.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Man, there is you know, you talk about it being technical.
There it's obviously so technical and just these little changes
in the way that you run. So are you watching
a lot of footage with your team to identify some
things which you might want to change and then working
on making those things happen subconsciously without even thinking about it.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Yeah, So it's all the stuff that we're working and training.
It's easier to work on the technical changes in things
like the gym or tempo running, so not at that
maximal pace, but then when we go to do fast,
faster stuff like for example, flying thirties or even when
it comes time to being in an actual race, you
don't have time. You can't afford to think about how
(07:38):
you're going to technically run, because as soon as you think,
when you're running, then you're just going to be running
slow because you're spending too much time thinking. So the
idea is like, yeah, when we're doing stuff in the gym,
we're trying to bring in new exercises and buy mechanics
and things to try and fix.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
Up some of my flaws, I guess, and.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Like the tempo running, having time to think about how
to change the mechanics so that over time just bleeds
into my actual fast running.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
All right, well, let's look ahead to twenty twenty five
and what it might hold for you. You recently, in
the last couple of weeks qualified for the World Indoor
Champs in the sixty meters, so you've got that locked in.
At the back end of March, the New Zealand National
Champs or a couple of weeks before that. What are
the other key events are your targeting in twenty twenty five?
Speaker 4 (08:27):
So short term, this weekend I'm racing at ITM and
christ Church and that's as you say, two weeks before
the National Championships and then wilder doors mid to late March,
and then looking beyond that my outdoor international campaign will start.
I'm hoping around May. I'm looking to target the Dohad
(08:49):
Diamond League again. I went there two years ago and
as a meat that I loved. The season is looking
quite different to how it has in the past, so
World Athletics have now structured the World Championships to be
the last the last race on the calendar, to make
that like the final hit stop. So it's going to
(09:10):
be quite a long season of racing. I think I'm
going to split out my season at still got to
work through finalizing a plan, but I think I'm going
to do Europe twice, so going over from May to
July ish coming home for a bit of a block
because there's a window of about two to three weeks
where there's nothing on in Europe for me to compete in.
(09:31):
That's usually when they do the European and American Nationals window.
Get a reset by coming back with my team and
then go back in August for some more competitions ahead
of the World Championships in September.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Is the next Olympics in twenty twenty eight already on
your radar.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
Yep, for sure.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Yeah, we look four years ahead, and obviously, being in
the sport of athletics, the Olympics is one of the
pinnacles for us. Obviously a world champcess has got the
same people and it's still a focused short term but yeah,
the Olympics for.
Speaker 5 (10:07):
Us in athletics is there the pinnacle.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
As I mentioned before, we're trying to work on a
lot of technical changes, so hopefully in another four years time.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
I will have become more.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
Yeah, more tuned to some of those changes, and yeah,
I think it's it's all about building towards Yeah, the
next four years.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
All right, good to know that you're going around again.
I heard you say in an interview. I think it
was before the last Olympics that growing up you wondered
if your dream of going to the Olympic Games was
one that was too big, But clearly it wasn't because
you made it to Paris in twenty twenty four. So
having been to one Olympic Games, do you now have
an even deeper desire to go to another one and
(10:50):
do even better once you're there?
Speaker 5 (10:52):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Oh for sure, Yeah, for sure, Like I think as
I've grown throughout the sport, my goals have also changed.
Once upon a time, as you'd alluded to it, like
to go to the Olympics seemed like a bold dream
and for a long time it was even chatted amongst
circles that the only way you could make it major
as a sprinter in New Zealand would be through relay
(11:14):
and not individually. And as I've chipped away and got
closer and closer to qualifying times, I saw it as
more of a an opportunity. And now that I'm at
the level I'm at, my goals have changed. I don't
just want to be there to be a competitor. I
don't want to just be there to be just represent
to New Zealand and be a person in a race.
(11:35):
I actually want to make the final and go even.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
Further with it. So yeah, for sure, la Is is
definitely a goal.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Fantastic Well, we can't wait to see what plays out
for you over the next three years as you head
towards Los Angeles. Zoe, thanks so much for being so
generous with your time having a chat to us. All
the best in christ Us this weekend and then on
towards the events that lie hit. Really appreciate you taking
the time for a chat. Thank you, no, thank you, Zoe,
Zoe Hobbs. There some pretty pretty specific answers there about
(12:08):
finding improvements, But I guess that's the nature of top
level sport, isn't it. You know, you seek any way
of making an improvement, and in track and field the
likes of you know, one hundred meters where every split
second is so important, you do whatever you cold, wouldn't
you to try and find those improvements. Yeah, just can't
wait to see if, Zoe Hobbs, over the next three
(12:31):
and a half years, can you make a charge towards
Los Angeles, get back to the Olympics and who knows,
maybe even make the final and once you're there, who knows.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to News Talk z B weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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