Jack Rayner

BIOGRAPHY

A Tokyo Olympian in the marathon, Jack Rayner has one of the best ranges in Australian distance running. He has represented Australian on the road, track and over cross country. But 10km or 10.000m is probably his pet distance, winning the last four Australian titles held at Zatopek and twice lowering the Australian 10,000m record where he is 23 seconds quicker than any other Aussie has run. But regular injuries have been an unwanted element of Jack’s career.

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Aged about seven, Jack Rayner’s parents were looking for a sport for their son and after a suggestion from a neighbour he started cross country running. By age nine he had a coach, Keith Fearnley, and by age 10 he ran at his first national cross country championships. For the next decade he would continue to run nationally often finishing just outside the medals. He didn’t have much track success until he won the national junior 5000m title while aged 17.

After school he was not sure what to do and after working in landscaping for a few years he knew he didn’t wish to pursue that. He was improving his road running, competing in fun runs and then decided to put everything into running and joined Nick Bideau’s Melbourne Track Club.

“When I joined the group in 2017 I didn’t really know what my distance would be,” said Rayner. “I didn’t break through on the track, running 13:41 – way off running times for world champs or Olympic qualification.”

“In 2018 I had another go at the track nationals and bombed there (5th 5000m 14:01), Nick said stay in Australia and do some road races. I found I started to find I liked road running far more than track.”

His good domestic road form earned him selection in October 2018 to represent Australia in the inaugural Commonwealth Half Marathon Championships in Cardiff, where he won in a very impressive time of 61:01.

“The week I got home (from Cardiff) the Melbourne Marathon was on and Nic asked me to pace Sinead Diver to 37km and the following week Nic asked if I wanted to run London Marathon in 2019 and I said why not and I started my marathon build up.”

In April 2019, he made his marathon debut in London and clocked a Tokyo Olympic qualifier of 2:11.06, a time which has held up for selection for the postponed Games in 2021.

In October 2019, Rayner had the opportunity to be a part of history when he was one of the pacers in the INEOS 159 Challenge where Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge successfully ran under two hours for a marathon. Rayner ran with the first and last 5km pace groups.

A month after the INEOS challenge he ran his second career marathon on the challenging New York course, placing 22nd in 2:16.58.

Searching for his ideal running distance, at the relatively young age of 23, in April 2019 Jack Rayner hit the mark with a stunning marathon debut time of 2:11.06. The time earned him selection for the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Unfortunately, at the Olympics he was unable to overcome a stress fracture in his femur in the leadup and withdrew from the race in Sapporo before 10km. Fully recovered from his injury he compiled a stunning 2022 campaign on the track and roads.

He compiled a brilliant series of performances in 2022. He has set five world class PBs on the track and road, at distances from 3000m to 10,000m, won two Zatopek/National 10,000m titles and broken the Australian 10,000m record. In March his national 10,000m record time of 27:15.35, sliced seven seconds off the former mark. In June he clocked a 28 seconds PB in the 5000m running 13:06.00, moving from number 51 to number 3 Australian all-time.

He was named in the Australian teams for the Commonwealth Games (5000m, 10,000m and marathon) and World Championships (5000m and 10,000m). At the World Champs in Eugene, he concentrated on the 10,000m, placing 19th in 28:24.12 and three weeks later was 8th in the 5000m in Birmingham. He closed the year domestically setting an Australian 10km road all-comers and National record with a time of 27:43.

He carried that form into 2023 winning the Australian team trial for the World Athletics Cross Country Championships, to be held in Bathurst in February. He went on the place an excellent 29th. After a lean European campaign he returned to Australia to win the National XC and 12km road championships.

He was diagnosed as borderline RED-S – Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport. It is a clinically defined syndrome referring to the impairment of physiological function caused by a deficit in a person’s energy intake relative to the energy required to maintain optimal health, homeostasis, growth, the activities of daily living, and sport.

In December 2023 he defended his National 10,000m title and in March 2024 in America lowered his own 10,000m record to 27:09.57. But battling a bone stress in his hip, he would miss the Paris Olympics.

“It’s been hard to manage his injuries,” Jack’s coach, Nic Bideau, told Wide World of Sports. “He’s got injured quite a lot, Jack.”

Jack’s summer of 2024/25 has again been brilliant, but would unfortunately end in March with a stress reaction. He had started the summer in October with his third career marathon, winning Melbourne in 2:11.49, then in December his fourth national 10,000m title at Zatopek. In February 2025 he broke the Australian Short Track (Indoor) 5000m record at Boston clocking 12:59.43. It was importantly a 2025 world championships qualifier.

Advice to other runners: Don’t take running for granted and enjoy it while you can. I couldn’t imagine my life without running and want to keep doing it. Listen to your body and know consistency of training builds layers….Athletes he admires: Elliot Kipchoge and training partner Brett Robinson who offers lots of advice and support…..Comparisons to a great: Rayner has a moustache which has been compared to the great popular American athlete Steve Prefontaine. Rayner shaved it off and had a bad race, so grew it back.

@ 29 July 2025 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au