Michelle Jenneke captured the attention of the world as the “Dancing Hurdler” when a video of her energetic pre-race warm-up dance at the 2012 Junior World Championships in Barcelona went viral and attracted incredible interest and sponsors with her image on magazines and billboards. However, there is much more to than just her dance moves, both on and off the track. Michelle was ahead of her time and her attitude and way of thinking has become the norm for professional sport but the attention and expectation which came with that forced Michelle away from the spotlight…but she’s back and faster than ever before.

Kelsey-Lee Barber tells Sam Squiers what it was like winning two gold medals in two parts of the world in the space of three weeks – with Covid in between! The newly crowned World and Commonwealth Games Champion discusses her early life, coming to Australia right before the Sydney Olympics (2:03) and the moment she realised her own ambitions to be a professional athlete (9:23). She also discusses embarrassment at her first Commonwealth Games (12:24), how her coach became her husband (27:55) and how she overcome the yips (31:55).

100m hurdle champion Liz Clay wants more pathways for young athletes trying to make a career in athletics. Breaking her foot before the 2014 World Junior Championships forced Liz Clay to stay on the sidelines, missing a crucial event for her progression as a junior athlete and foreshadowing her injury-plagued career. Liz joins Sam Squiers to discuss moving from Sydney to the Gold Coast to be coached by hurdles legend Sharon Hannan, the media coverage of athletics compared to team sports and how she’s remained motivated in spite of setbacks.