Meet your Paris 2024 Olympians

With 2024 Paris Olympic events already underway, we’ve compiled the local names to keep an eye on at this year’s games.

Joel Baden
Event: High Jump
Residence: Drysdale
Schedule:
Qualification – Wednesday, August 7 from 6.05pm, Final – Sunday, August 11 from 3.10am

Growing up near Geelong, 28-year-old Joel Baden was a leading Australian junior high jumper by his late teens and was selected for his Australian debut at the 2014 World Junior Championships.

Baden then made his Olympic debut at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, finishing 41st with a qualifying round jump height of 2.17m.

He has since competed in the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the 2019 and 2022 World Championships. He won the 2017 and 2019 national titles. Baden improved his PB to 2.30m in 2019, but in 2021 missed Tokyo selection with a best of 2.24m in the Olympic year.

He made a breakthrough in 2023, clearing 2.33m in his season debut.

Kyra Cooney-Cross
Event: Women’s Football
Hometown: Torquay
Schedule:
Group Stage: vs Germany – Friday, July 26 at 3.00am, vs Zambia  – Monday, July 29 at 3.00am, vs United States – Thursday, August 1 at 3.00am.
Knockout stage: TBD

One of the region’s most recognisable sporting figures, Kyra Cooney-Cross is hoping to add another accolade to her impressive football resume.

Born in Queensland, formerly based in Torquay, and now living it up in the United Kingdom playing for Arsenal FC, Cooney-Cross is again part of the Matildas Olympic squad, following her debut in Tokyo.

Cooney-Cross was part of the Matildas’ run to the semi-finals of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, and displayed why she is expected to be a vital player for Australia in the years to come.

She began her international career at the 2017 Under-16 Asian Cup qualifiers, scoring six goals in the tournament.

At Tokyo 2020, Kyra and the Matildas made it all the way to the bronze medal game but fell to the United States in a 4-3 loss. It remains the highest ever finish by the Matildas at an Olympic Games.

 

 

Mia Gross
Events: 200m, 4x100m relay
Hometown: Torquay
Schedule:
200m: Round 1 – Sunday, August 4 from 6.55pm, Repechage Round – Monday, August 5 from 8.50pm, Semi-Finals – Tuesday, August 6 from 4.45am, Final – Wednesday, August 7 at 5.40am.

4x100m relay: Round 1 – Thursday, August 8 from 7.10pm, Final – Saturday, August 10 at 3.30am

Former Torquay resident and sprinter Mia Gross overcame challenges to make her senior Australian team debut at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022.

Mia began her athletic journey aged nine at Geelong Little Athletics, before her selection for the 2017 Youth Commonwealth Games held in the Bahamas at age 16.

2023 was a solid campaign for the 23-year-old competing across Europe.

In 2024, Gross placed second in the key World Athletics point scoring races – the nationals and Oceania Championships.

In June, she clocked a new 200m PB of 22.81 at high altitude in Sestriere, Italy. It elevated her to number 11 Australian all-time.

 

 

Lauren Ryan
Event: 10,000m
Hometown: Geelong
Schedule:
Final – Saturday, August 10 at 4.55am

United States-based Victorian and former Geelong Grammar School student Lauren Ryan is entering her debut Olympics on a wave of momentum, breaking personal bests at the mile, 3000m, 5000m (national record) and 10,000m (national record).

Ryan, now 26, fell in love with cross country at a young age, before elevating her game here in Geelong.

At 18, Ryan earned selection for the World Junior team and impressed on her debut, running a PB time of 9:21 in the 3000m.

 

Catherine Skinner
Event: Trap Shooting
Residence: Queenscliff
Schedule:
Qualification – Tuesday, July 30 & Wednesday, July 31 from 5.00pm, Final – Wednesday, July 31 from 11.30pm

Queenscliff resident Catherine Skinner secured gold in Rio by winning the women’s trap event, defeating New Zealander Natalie Rooney by hitting 12 of her 15 targets in the final.

She remains Australia’s only shooting gold medallist at the Olympic Games.

Skinner has won three bronze and two silver medals at world championships and competed at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 and on the Gold Coast in 2018.

 

 

Angus Widdicombe
Event: Eight Rowing
Residence: Newtown, Geelong
Schedule:
Heats – Monday, July 29 from 7.40pm, Repechage – August 1 at 6.20pm, Final – Saturday, August 3 at 7.10pm

A familiar face of the Geelong rowing scene, Angus Widdicombe has become a staple of the men’s eight team in recent years.

The rower attended Geelong College and featured in the school’s first VII in 2011 and 2012.

Widdicombe started his senior career with Barwon Rowing Club, before moving to Melbourne to join Mercantile Rowing Club.

After a sixth-place finish at Tokyo, Widdicombe took time away from the sport to focus on his degree.

The now 29-year-old returned in 2022 to the men’s eight, where the crew claimed two bronze medals, three silver and a gold during the 2022 World Rowing Cup II and the 2023 World Rowing Championships.

In 2024, he raced as part of the men’s eight team which finished in fourth at the World Rowing Cup II.

 

Ria Thompson
Event: Quad Scull Rowing
Residence: Point Lonsdale
Schedule:
Heats – Saturday, July 27 from 8.50pm, Repechages – Monday, July 29 at 7.30pm, Final – Wednesday, July 31 at 8.14pm

Point Lonsdale resident and 2020 bronze medallist Ria Thompson made her debut in 2018, when she was named U23 women’s double scull for the Junior World Championships, finishing fifth in the final.

Ria was selected as Australia’s women’s sculling representative in 2019 for the World U23 Championships in Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida where she clinched a gold medal and an U23 world championship title.