Georgia Hulls back on track with world champs relay team

Georgia Hulls is now based in Brisbane and bouncing back from a missed Olympic Games opportunity to represent New Zealand in the mixed 4x100m relay in Botswana on May 2. Photo / Getty Images

Hawke’s Bay sprinter and former national women’s 200 metres champion Georgia Hulls is back among New Zealand’s athletics elite in a comeback she hopes will yet let her reach the dream of an Olympic Games.

Overcoming the disappointment of missing a shot at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, selection in a New Zealand mixed relay squad for the world championships this week in Botswana has opened a pathway to Olympics selection in 2028.

The 26-year-old, who has won six national titles, three Oceania titles and was part of a New Zealand record women’s 4x200m relay in 2022, has been named in a six-strong Athletics New Zealand squad for the World relays championships in Botswana capital Gaborone on Saturday.

Among the team are Zoe Hobbs and Tiaan Whelpton, the national women’s and men’s 100m record-holders respectively, and national men’s 400 record holder Lex Revell-Lewis.

The others are third female sprinter Brooke Somerfield, and Hayato Yoneto, who has won four national titles in men’s relays.

Hulls won the national women’s 200m title four times consecutively from 2021 to 2024, represented New Zealand in the event at the 2022 and 2023 World championships, and set the metric furlong as the big goal of selection for the 2024 Olympic Games.

She ran out of time to reach the qualifying mark, lost all her private sponsorships and also the support of Athletics New Zealand High Performance system.

Hampered by injury, an operation and illness, she only ran three races in the 2024-2025 season, but helped Hawke’s Bay Gisborne claim the national women’s 4x100m relay title.

She relocated to Brisbane late last year to join a new training squad under prominent Australian sprints coach Andrew Iselin, at the same time, joining a New Zealand relay programme reignited by Sonia and Rob Wardell, at camps and racing in New Zealand and Australia.

She has continued to train hard, while overcoming more injuries and juggling training and travelling with part-time work for New Zealand active-wear clothier Lululemon.

She has been a part of seven 4x100m national relay teams over her career, which have each gained or improved upon New Zealand records.

In a break from training in Potchefstroom, South Africa, she told Hawke’s Bay Today that despite the setbacks the only time she’d come close to “retiring” was in the latest season during periods of injury.

But there are clear goals, with the relay team aiming to make the final in Botswana, to qualify for the World Championships next year and continue building towards the 2028 Olympic Games.

Ranked 12th in the World, and needing to stay in the top 14 to qualify for the 2027 World Championships, the team is focusing its training on perfecting the baton changes.

In addition to the challenges of facing top teams such as Jamaica, US and Great Britain, a special attraction is the prize.

The medals have diamonds in them to reflect Botswana’s diamond industry.

Doug Laing is a Napier-based Hawke’s Bay Today reporter with more than 50 years’ experience in the news game, covering local, regional and national events and issues, including sports.