Aiden Hinson

BIOGRAPHY

What a journey Aiden Hinson has endured to make his first senior world championships team – Budapest 2023. The pandemic and injury have on three occasions foiled the opportunities for a very talented triple jumper to previously represent Australia. 

Just short of the World U20 Championships standard in 2020 as a 16-year-old, the championships were cancelled due to COVID. For the 2021 World U20 Championships, Aiden recorded four qualifiers, but Athletics Australia opted not to send a team to Kenya due to security and pandemic concerns. In 2022 he nailed 10 qualifiers for the junior championships, won the trial/Nationals with a leap pf 16.16m - #4 Australian junior in history. But a month before departure he finally succumbs to a right hamstring issue he had had for a while. He withdrew from the team and had surgery. 

After a very promising return in December 2022 with a windy jump of 16.26m, he made significant progress in early 2023, with 16.35m in January, then 16.42m in February, followed by a monster jump of 16.72m in Christchurch. The still 19-year-old had recorded the longest jump by an Aussie for 10 years and was now #9 Australian all-time. He closed the domestic season winning Nationals in an epic 3-way competition. 

On the way to Europe for the World Championships, in early August Aiden made his Australian debut at the World University Games in China where he placed seventh in the final.

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Aiden Hinson was a sporty kid who came from a family of athletes. He played AFL early on and at age six started running at Westernport Athletics Club. He particularly enjoyed the social aspect. Growing up, he also completed in swimming at a high level and cross country at State level. By age 15, the talented mid-fielder was still playing AFL and only training for athletics two times a week. It argued well for the future when he did decide to concentrate on athletics.

In his mid-teens Aiden was really starting to progress in triple jump. In December 2018, he broke the 30-year-old Australian under-16 triple jump with a leap of 14.55m. A measure of the performance, was it was the only Australian record broken at those National All Schools Championships.

In 2019 he won every title possible, Victorian, Australian U17, Australian All Schools U18 and Oceania U18 as he set four PBs going from 14.55 to 15.29m. In early 2020, in pursuit of World U20 Championships qualification as a 16-year-old, he improved to 15.49m in February, just short of the qualifying standard of 15.70m. Just days later the world close down with the pandemic and the 2020 World U20 Championships were cancelled.

In the summer of 2020/21, between pandemic close downs, he nailed four World U20 Championships qualifiers, won the trials and reached a best of 15.86m. But due to secure and pandemic concerns Australia didn’t send a team to the 2021 World U20 Championships. Aiden’s progression continued in 2022 winning the National U20 title, placed third in the open, and nailed 10 World U20 Championship qualifiers as he became the fourth longest in Australian junior history with a leap of 16.16m. He was set to become just the second Aussie to compete at the World Juniors in the triple jump for 14 years. But alas a hamstring niggle troubled him and a month before the team departed for Cali, he had to withdraw and underwent hamstring surgery.

He was motivated to train both harder and smarter for the 2023 season and the future. “It really helped me with the dedication and resilience.”

Enjoyment of competition: I love the thrill and adrenaline that competing brings, especially on the runway right before a jump. The atmosphere can be amazing at comps particularly when getting the clap going, just brings the fun and enjoyment to a whole new level…Biggest challenge faced: recurring right hamstring strain in 2022. It's was not just physically taxing in training and competitions, but also mentally taxing…Hero: greats like Christian Taylor and
Jonathon Edwards…Most Influential person in career: Parents and Coach Chloe Stevens have given me unwavering support throughout the years and have always gone out of their way to help me develop and become better. I wouldn't be where I am now without them…Advice to your young self: Don't overthink minor details like a lousy comp (even though I still do a little ha-ha)…Hobbies: camping in the bush with family or friends…Education: sport and exercise science, at Deakin University in Burwood…Interesting fact: defeated his best mate and good hurdler Tayeb Wills in a 200m hurdles race.

 August 2023 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au

World Athletics Profile https://worldathletics.org/athletes/australia/aiden-hinson-14817316