Connor Bond

BIOGRAPHY

From Rugby Union royalty, Connor Bond has transitioned his junior sprinting talent into seniors. He has patiently waited until his third year in opens to make his senior Australian team debut in 2025 at the World Championships.

+ + +

Connor Bond was destined to be involved in sports. His father and uncle both played Rugby Union for Australia. His father, Grahame Bond, was a 5-time Wallaby in 2001, while his uncle, Adam Ashley Cooper, only recently retired after a 14 year and 121 test career for the Wallaby’s.

Connor started in athletics aged six at Ku-ring-gai Little Athletics Centre and also playing rugby in U7s with Lindfield. “I started playing because my mum and dad both did athletics and rugby when they were younger and wanted me to enjoy sport as much as they did.”

Connor was successful from the start.

“I went to nationals for the first time when I was 10, and won my first national medal in Brisbane for the 4x100m relay. I also went to nationals in the U11’s and U12’s. He was also playing rugby as they were in opposite seasons.

Just prior to his emerge in the last two years, Connor was also hurdling and long jumping, but at the end of 2020 he was really making progress ahead of his standout 2021/22 season. In November 2021 he hit the World U20 Championships standards in both event, 10.60w and 21.40, however the 100m was wind assisted.

“It was my 200m season opener, which I was blown away with.”

The season just progressed from there with numerous qualifiers and runs at major meets like the Melbourne Track Classic, where he clocked his 100m PB of 10.46. His outstanding Nationals campaign included third in the U20 100m (10.50) and second in the 200m (21.00). He was elated with his nationals performance:

“I was over the moon with my results at nationals because this was my first year of being truly competitive on the national stage and also my second year of proper athletics training.”

At the 2022 World Juniors in Cali Columbia, he made the 100m semis running a breakthrough 0.10 second PB time of 10.30. Unfortunately, the relay, a medal chance, dropped the baton in the heats. They had clocked an Australian record time of 39.30 in the leadup.

After a solid 2023 season where Connor was 6th in the National 100m, (and a brilliant 20.74 200m time), his 2024 campaign was similar placing 5th at Nationals.

In 2025, his third year in seniors, Connor made clear progression. He ran a 10.25 PB at Nationals and was 8th in a highly competitive final. In July he made the 100m final at the World University Games, placing 7th in the final. In September he was named on the 4x100m relay for the 20205 World Championships.

Combining athletics and rugby was a big challenge for Connor.

“Being a multi-sport athlete, until recently (in 2022), I had to balance rugby and athletics at a high level from when I was about 14. I struggled with many injuries including a broken shoulder, concussions, hamstring and hip flexor tears and patella tendonitis to name the more serious injuries. These were a challenge to me as it meant I had to be very particular as to how I trained and how I managed my load with training.”

Education: double degree of Bachelor of Cyber Security and Media Communications at Macquarie University…Hero: His father. “Despite a career plagued with injuries that were out of his control, he still had the grit and determination to represented Australia in rugby union. He inspires me to maintain integrity, determination and motivation when it comes to my track career and I could not thank him enough for it.” Influential person in career: John Gikas. “John is a fantastic sprinter, and was the captain of my house in school when I was in year 8. His incredible results and his leadership as house and athletics captain in 2018 to lead us to a GPS athletics senior victory was truly inspirational to me and he is one of the reasons I kept at athletics through my early teens despite a flattening in progress at the time. He stoked my love for athletics and without him I would not be where I am today.”… Advice to your young self: Always stick to the grind and love the grind. Bide your time and be patient and you will have your time…Hobbies: Surfing, skating, beach, cars and watching and playing soccer and rugby.

@ 1 Sept 2025 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au