Kiwi creates history at NCAA Championships

Maia Ramsden winning the U20 1500m title at the 2019 New Zealand Track & Field Championships.
Photo: ATHLETICS NZ

Maia Ramsden created history by becoming the first New Zealander to win a track title at an outdoor NCAA Track & Field Championships by sprinting to a dazzling victory in the women’s 1500m final in Texas.

The 21-year-old Havard University student unleashed a fearsome kick finish to storm to the title in a new PB of 4:08.60 – to finish 0.61 clear of Izzy Thornton-Bott (Oregon) to take out the biggest win of her career.

Ramsden from Wellington joins former Commonwealth champion Julia Ratcliffe as the only Kiwi to ever win an NCAA outdoor title, the latter claimed women’s hammer’s gold at the 2014 edition.

Kiwi middle-distance runners Nick Willis and Geordie Beamish had both previously secured the NCAA Indoor mile title in 2005 and 2019, respectively.

Ramsden came into the meet with a 1500m PB of 4:11.73 but after placing second in her semi-final in Austin she lowered her best to 4:09.81 to catapult to sixth on the all-time New Zealand lists for the women’s 1500m.

In the final, she ran a patient race refusing to get sucked into the searing pace at the front set by NC State athlete and pre-race favourite Katelyn Tuohy. But by the bell Tuohy’s race was run and on the final bend Ramsden hit the front and accelerated clear to the title and another PB – which consolidated her position as the sixth fastest Kiwi ever for the distance.

The New Zealand women’s 1500m record of Nikki Hamblin stands at 4:04:82.

Ramsden said of her win: “I can’t believe it. We thought it would be quick and I spoke to my coach about what kind of 800m split I could handle but that becomes pointless in the race, so he said ‘don’t worry about the splits, just run your own race, just be patient and maybe some girls will come back to you.

“I’ve been working on staying really patient, staying smoother tucking in and just being ready, so I can get the most out of my kick. All of a sudden I was coming around the last bend, and it was like, wait a second, I have some legs left so let’s see what happens.”

Ramsden returned just under two hours later to run the women’s 5000m final, where she finished 18th in 16:12.95 outside of her PB of 15:40.05.