Further Information 

Competition Stats

AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS:
800 metres: 1997 (U20) - 1st
1500 metres: 1997 (U20) - 1st
3000 metres: 1997 (U20) - 4th (2nd Australian)
3000m steeple: 2000 - 5th (3rd Australian), 2006 - 2nd, 2006 - 1st, 2007 - 1st, 2008 - 1st
Cross country: 1996 - (U20) 4km 1st, 2006 - 2nd

INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS:
Commonwealth Games: 2006 – 3000m steeple 3rd (9.25.05)
World Cross Country Championships: 2006 –  4km 29th
World Championships: 2007 - 3000m steeple DNF (inj.)

ANNUAL PROGRESSION:

1500 metres:
1998 4.20.47
2006 4.15.83
2007 4.12.44/4.10.37m (mix)

3000 metres:
2006 8.50.65
2007 9.03.71
2008 9.02.14

3000m steeplechase:
2000 10.31.10 (mix)
2005 9.51.60
2006 9.25.05
2007 9.26.63
2008 9.18.35

EVENTS/PERSONAL BESTS:
3000m steeplechase: 9.18.35 - Oslo, 6/06/08
1500 metres: 4.12.22 - Osaka (JPN), 5/05/07 [4.10.37 in unsanctioned mixed race]
Mile: 4.33.52 - Melbourne, 2/03/07
3000 metres: 8.50.65 - Melbourne, 9/03/06
5000 metres: 15.46.43 - Hobart, 18/03/07

Interesting Facts

Donna combines her athletic efforts with being a mother of two young children in Hobart.

In 2008, Donna won the TIS Female Athlete of the Year Award. She is arguably the most recognisable female athlete in Tasmania and second sportsperson overall to Ricky Ponting.

Sporting Career

Donna won her first national medal - a bronze in the Under 15 5000 metres at the 1990 Australian All Schools Championships, but it was not until she reached the Under 20 age group in 1996-97 when she won Australian Junior Cross Country, 800 and 1500 metres titles, that she was again competitive at national level.

There was another success gap until 2000 when Donna became one of the trailblazers in women’s steeplechasing, taking a national bronze in 2000.

A different sort of break, to start a family, began soon after and it was not until December 2005 that she returned to competition. Yet within three months Donna had netted bronze in the inaugural Commonwealth Games 3000m steeplechase in Melbourne and began a rapid rise which saw her ranked in the top 10 in all three recognised world ranking systems by year’s end.

Success not only came over the jumps and in cross country, where she was part of Australia’s first ever medal winning team at the World Cross Country Championships two weeks after the Games, but also on the flat with fine wins over 3000 metres in international meets in Australia in both 2006 and 2007.

The year saw some good results for Donna. Her first national senior title in March has been followed with wins at 1500m in Karlskrona (SWE) and in international steeples in Doha (QAT) and Luzern (SUI), with a second in Oslo (NOR) in her Golden League debut.

New personal bests in other non-preferred distances of the mile and 5000m also came, as did an inaugural World Championships berth. However, some poor fortune in Osaka didn’t do an otherwise terrific year justice; Donna lost a shoe in the opening stages of her 3000m steeple heat and was forced to withdraw despite trying to persevere without it.

In 2008, Donna won the Melbourne Athletics Grand Prix in an A qualifying time of 9.29.93, well ahead of international Zhenzhu Li 9.56.73. At the National Championships in March, Donna made it two in a row and achieved automatic nomination for her Olympic debut. At the 2008 IAAF Oslo Golden League, Donna demolished the Australian record by 6 seconds, running 9.18.35.