Lauren Boden (born 3 August 1988) is an Australian

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

competitor. Her events are the 400 metre

hurdles Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...

, 400 metres and

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

. She was the youngest woman to win the 400 metres hurdle event at the Australian national championships. She has competed in the long jump event and the 400 metres hurdle event at the

World University Games The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

. She has competed at the

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

and

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...

and the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

in the 400 metre hurdles event.

Personal

Boden was born on 3 August 1988 in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. She attended Kaleen Primary School before going to high school at

Lyneham High School Lyneham High School is a public secondary school in the Australian capital of Canberra that was founded in 1959. Located in the suburb of Lyneham, it is one of the only large public high schools in the immediate area. The school has a performin ...

and

Daramalan College Daramalan College is a Roman Catholic high school in Canberra, Australia, located in the suburb of Dickson. It encompasses Year 7 to Year 12, in a co-educational environment. Run by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, it has an emblem of a re ...

. She then attended the

University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is within walking distance of Westfield Belconnen, and from Canberra's Civic Centre. UC ...

, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology while majoring in sport science. In 2004, she was named the ACT Sports Star of the Year – Junior Athlete and earned the Pierre de Coubertin Award. , she lives in Canberra. Boden is tall and weighs . People confuse her for

Jana Pittman Jana Pittman (born 9 November 1982) is an Australian former athlete. During her athletic career Pittman specialised in the 400 metres run and 400-metre hurdles events. She is a two-time world champion in the 400 m hurdles, from 2003 and 200 ...

. They look alike and have a similar hurdling style. Many news stories about Boden compare her to Pittman.

Athletics

Boden is an athletics competitor in the 400 metre hurdles event, 400 metres event and the long jump. She started competing in athletics when she was five years old. She competes for the North Canberra/Gungahlin athletics club. She is coached by Matt Beckenham, became her coach in 2003. Her training partner is

Melissa Breen Melissa Breen (born 17 September 1990) is an Australian 100 metres and 200 metres runner. Breen broke the Australian record for the women's 100 m sprint, when she clocked 11.11 seconds at the ACT Championships, held on 9 Feb 2014 at the Austr ...

. She has held an athletics scholarship from the

ACT Academy of Sport The ACT Academy of Sport (ACTAS) was launched in 1989. It is an endorsed Australian Olympic Committee and Australian Paralympic Committee National Training Centre and a member of the National Institutes of Network. History The establishment of AC ...

and the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

. Running for the Australian national team, she wears number 81. Boden will represent Australia at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, where she made her Olympic debut in the 400 metre hurdle event as Australia's only competitor in the event.

400 metre hurdles

Boden started competing in open age races when she was sixteen years old. In 2005, Boden won the 400 metres hurdles event at the Australian national championships. She was the youngest person to win the event. She repeated her victory in the event at the 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011 Australian national championships. Her personal best in the 400 metre hurdles is 55.25 seconds. That year she also competed in the World Youth Championships. As a seventeen-year-old, Boden competed in the 400 metre hurdles event at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

, but did not make the finals. She also competed but did not reach the final at the 2006 World Junior Championships. She competed in the event again in the

where she finished fourth. Boden competed at the

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

in 2007, where she finished fourth in the qualifying round with a time of 58.72 seconds. At the 2009 edition in Belgrade, she finished fifth in the finals with a time of 56.81 seconds. In 2011 she competed in her first senior

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, in Daegu, reaching the semifinal. In February 2012, Boden clocked an A-standard Olympic qualifying time of 55.45 seconds at the Sydney Track Classic. Her (then) personal best time in the event was 55.25 seconds was set on 8 May 2010 in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

. In 2013, she set a new personal best of 55.08 at Oordegem-Lede, and competed again at the world championships. She competed in the 400 m hurdles at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

and was part of the Australian 4 x 400 m team. She finished in 4th in both events. She reached the World Championships again in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, the 2016 Olympics and the 2017 World Championship.

Long jump

In 2007, Boden competed in the long jump event at the Australian national championships, where she finished second with 6.39m with an illegal tailwind (+4.1 m/s). That same year, she competed at the

where she finished sixth with a jump of 6.40 metres.

400 metres

Boden beat her personal best time during a meet in Dormagen, Germany in the last weekend in June 2012. Her new personal best is 52.82. Her previous best time in the event was 53.51 seconds.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Lauren Living people 1988 births Australian female hurdlers Olympic athletes of Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games competitors for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Australia Australian Institute of Sport track and field athletes People educated at Daramalan College ACT Academy of Sport alumni Australian Athletics Championships winners 21st-century Australian women 20th-century Australian women