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BIOGRAPHYMatty Denny, the boy from the Darling Downs is not only a favourite Queensland son, he competed at his second Olympic Games in 2021 and is regarded as one of the most consistent performers in global discus competitions. Since winning a silver medal in the 2018 Commonwealth Games hammer throw, Matty has concentrated on the discus and is now one the best in the world. He started well and was Australia’s equal best male athlete with sixth at the 2019 World Championships. Set for a perfect lead-in to the Tokyo Olympics during the summer of 2020/21, there was a setback in December, when he hurt two ribs and strained his right Costochondral joint causing a pause to his season. He returned to competition in March 2021 and won the national title with 63.88. In his third competition in June he nailed his Olympic qualifier with a PB 66.15m. In Tokyo he was superb in the final. In the mix from the outset hitting an opening mark of 65.76m to take an early lead. He eventually finished fourth nailing a PB 67.02m on his last attempt – just 5cm from the podium. It was Australia’s best ever place in a men’s throwing event in Olympic history or in a men’s senior global discus championship. Selected for the World Championships and Commonwealth Games in 2022, he performed well at both meets. In Eugene at the worlds, he threw 66.98m in the qualifying round and 66.47m in the final to placed sixth. In a close competition he was 1.08m from the podium. But He was very unhappy with the performance. Two weeks later in Birmingham, he faced top competition to take the title, with two athletes owning superior PB to him, but he was equal to the challenge winning in a lifetime best of 67.26m, with a series where all his six throws would have won – stunning consistency. His winning margin was 2.27m. In 2023 he switched coaches to Dale Stevenson and domestically reached just 64.39m, but won his sixth National discus title. By July he was back throwing over 66m leading into the Budapest World Championships his ninth senior National team. In round four he moved into a close second place with a new National record distance of 68.24m. By the end he had slipped back to fourth place as the gold and silver medallists threw over 70 metres. He closed the season in Eugene at the Diamond League final and stunned the field winning with another Australian record throw of 68.43m. He became just the fifth Aussie to win the Diamond League final. + + + + + Growing up in the small town of Allora (population 1000), located 60km outside Toowoomba and 150km south-west of Brisbane, Matty Denny had lots of space to throw things. When he was in grade 1 at primary school, he threw bean bags as shot puts and vortexes as javelins. But his main focus as a kid until grade 8-9 was rugby league. Through his teens he developed into one of the finest junior throwers in Australian history. He dominated the record books and national title lists. He was also impressive internationally, winning the World Youth (U18) Championships discus title in 2013, followed by fourth the year after at the 2014 World Junior (U20) Championships. He also won a silver medal at the Universiade in 2015. In April 2016, he won the national discus title with a throw of 60.47m and the hammer title with 68.44m. He became just the second athlete in the near 100 years history of the event to win this double and the first since Keith Pardon in 1953 – 63 years earlier. At the Commonwealth trials in February 2018, with just 14 hours separating the hammer and discus events, he required just one valid hammer throw to claim the title and automatic Commonwealth Games selection and also won the discus. With selection in both events he became the second Australia athlete, and first in 68 years, to compete in both events at the Commonwealth Games, following Keith Pardon who competed in the same pair at the 1938 and 1950 Empire Games. At the Commonwealth Games he won silver in the hammer throw with a PB 74.88m and was fourth in the discus. In 2019 he decided to focus on the discus and came close to his PB with three throws over 65m (and eight over 64m). In July 2019 he won the World University Games discus title and continued an outstanding year of consistent throwing placed an extraordinary sixth at the 2019 world championships in Doha. Only once previously at a global meet (Olympics and world championships) had an Aussie placed that high. In February 2020 in Wellington New Zealand, he threw a personal best of 65.47m and was in a career purple patch before COVID closed the season. Consistently world class: Matt Denny has a reputation as being able to performance when it most matters on the world stage. His coach Dale Stevenson spoke about this after his Eugene performance, noting some people are just “exceptional competitors.” His happy place,” according to Stevenson, “is out there competing against the top athletes. It brings the best out of him.” Biggest challenge: Coming from a small country town far away from good training facilities…..Interesting facts: One of eight siblings...Occupation: host on Nova 106.9 on Saturday mornings with Angie Kent…Education: Business degree - Major in Sport & Entrepreneurship, Griffith University (2015-2021)
@ November 2023 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au
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