Claudia Hollingsworth, a fantastic 20-year-old tennis prodigy from down under, is beginning to turn heads. She is clearly getting keen as she prepares for the next World Athletics Championships. For Alysa, this year is a big one. It gives us an opportunity to showcase Australian athletics, with a record 88 Aussies lining up at the start of the Melbourne event. Hollingsworth has already made waves by breaking the sub-2 minute mark in the 800m event, showcasing her potential to be a strong contender on the world stage.
Hollingsworth’s rise to the top has been anything but easy. As a person and an athlete, Hollingsworth has matured into an incredible all-around role model. She has, ever since her coach Craig Mottram, worked with her seamlessly since she was 12. This year has been loaded with professional breakthroughs for her. Just recently, she broke the Australian 800m record at the Silesia Diamond League, clocking an incredible 1 minute and 57.67 seconds.
With her silver medal from the 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships and several personal bests, including a world lead, Hollingsworth is eager to make a breakthrough into the finals of the 800m event at the World Championships. In looking back on what she’s done to prepare, she acknowledges the role her family has played in supporting her pursuit of athletics.
A New Era for Australian Athletics
Today, the world of Australian athletics is hugely successful and competitive. Female athletes such as Hollingsworth are blazing the trail. She’s living and competing in a golden age in women’s athletics. Together with her teammates Sarah Billings, Georgia Griffith, Bendere Oboya, and Tess Kirsopp-Cole, she has seen several more athletes dip below the 2-minute mark in the 800m this year. Astonishing as it is, that accomplishment serves to express not just personal greatness, but rather a collective emergence of an Australian middle-distance running renaissance.
Hollingsworth’s success can be attributed to her rigorous training regimen and her experiences competing at high levels over the past years. “I really just want to take it race-by-race and each day-by-day in training,” she said. I have no doubt that a lot of those goals will be addressed and ticked off over time. Her competitive spirit shines through as she approaches the titles, confidence bolstered by last weekend’s races.
Mottram, who has coached Olympic and world medalists throughout his long career, knows Hollingsworth is a different development. In my estimation, running is a very close second to her being a great human being,” he says. His firmly held belief is that her character, integrity and work ethic will take her far toward wherever she ultimately decides she’d like to go.
Family Support and Personal Growth
Hollingsworth credits a lot of her success to the strong family support network that she has. Growing up in an environment that encouraged exploration and effort, she states, “I’ve come from a family that’s just always told us to try our best and try everything.” The positive reinforcement has given her a deep-rooted sense of persistence and drive.
Her extended family is very involved in her life. They’ve elevated her goals and dreams in areas beyond athletics as an integral part of her personal development. With siblings like twin sister Gemma and sister Sunday, a talented trampolinist, Hollingsworth enjoys a close-knit family dynamic that fosters motivation on and off the track. It’s those bonds she shares with teammates Abbey Caldwell and Jessica Hull that fuels her growth. More importantly, they challenge each other to be great and do great things.
Hollingsworth prepares for the World Championships. She draws on the confidence she knows she has developed while racing those elite athletes from earlier races. “The last few races have given me a lot of confidence going into the world champs,” she asserts. Telling you once again that I’m ranked among the best in the world.
Setting Ambitious Goals
With hopes sky-high after such historic selection, Hollingsworth looks ahead to her ultimate goal. She’s fierce commitment to pursue success at subsequent Olympic Games. Her ambition is to make it to the finals and win a medal. Her big aspiration, she expresses, is to race both in LA and Brisbane. Her goal is to reach the Olympic final and reach the podium to medal.
With a month to go before the 2023 World Championships, that Hollingsworth is in the moment is what she knows will make the difference. I think the sky’s the limit,” she proclaims. It is this ambition that fuels her to consistently push limitations and strive for greatness in her life as an athlete. After years of cultivating her talent and relentless determination, she’s primed to take center stage. We hope that this is indeed her coming out party on one of track and field’s biggest stages.
