 Patterson at the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Australian |
| Born | 22 May 1996 Leongatha, Victoria |
| Height | 1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in) |
| Weight | 65 kg (143 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Track and field |
| Event | High jump |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal best | 2.02 m (6 ft 7+1⁄2 in) (2022) |
Eleanor Patterson (born 22 May 1996) is an Australian track and field athlete who competes in the high jump. She won the gold medal at the 2022 World Championships.
Born in Leongatha, Victoria,[1] Patterson began competing in the high jump as a child. She went to Little Athletics with her friend and fell in love with the sport.[2] Patterson competed in many local events.[3] She was runner-up at the national junior (under-20) championships in 2011, setting a personal best of 1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in) at the age of 14. She returned the following year to win that title and improved to 1.87 m (6 ft 1+1⁄2 in) that November.[4]
In her first international competition, Patterson won the gold medal at the 2013 World Youth Championships, setting a personal best of 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) to win by a margin of six centimetres.[5] In December, she broke records at the Australian Schools Championships, clearing a height of 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) to equal the world youth best held by Charmaine Gale-Weavers (set in 1981) and Olga Turchak (set in 1984) and set a new Oceanian junior record. The 17-year-old had three attempts at the Australian senior record of 1.98 m (6 ft 5+3⁄4 in), but had three failures.[6]
Patterson was regularly over 1.90 m during the 2014 season, winning a fourth straight Australian junior title and taking her first senior national title at the Australian Championships. She also won at the Melbourne Track Classic meet with a jump of 1.92 m (6 ft 3+1⁄2 in).[4] Patterson decided to miss the 2014 World Junior Championships in order to represent Australia at the 2014 Commonwealth Games instead. The move paid off as she jumped 1.94 m (6 ft 4+1⁄4 in) to win the gold medal ahead of England's Isobel Pooley. This made the 18-year-old the third youngest Australian Commonwealth Games champion ever.[7][8]
Patterson finished eighth at the 2015 World Championships. She competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics but did not qualify for the final. Patterson did not make the 2018 Commonwealth Games squad; disappointed, she took a year off from the sport before returning in 2019.[9][10]
In 2020, Patterson set a new Australian record, jumping 1.99 m in New Zealand.[9] Having qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, she jumped 1.95 m in her group and therefore qualified for the final. There, she managed 1.96 m for a fifth-place finish, 0.08 m behind the eventual winner, Mariya Lasitskene of ROC.[11]
In March 2022, at the 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Patterson set a new Oceania indoor record, jumping 2.00 m to win the silver medal.[12] In July, she won the gold medal at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, tying the Australian national record of 2.02 m.[13] In August, she won the silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The following year, Patterson won the silver medal at the 2023 World Championships.
Patterson is the fiancée of Italian high jumper Marco Fassinotti.[14]
