Michelle Jenneke - Australia’s viral dancing hurdler

Australian hurdler Michelle Jenneke made her Olympic debut at Rio 2016.

However, she first rose to global fame in 2012 when her pre-race warm-up dance routine before the 100m hurdles heat at the World Junior Track and Field Championships in Barcelona went viral online.

One version of the video had amassed 27 million views on YouTube and the footage also received attention from media outlets worldwide.

Since then, Australia’s ‘Dancing Hurdler’ has also made a name for herself on the athletics track, registering three top-six finishes at the Commonwealth Games and reaching the semi-finals at seven of her eight World Championships (both indoors and outdoors).

The period from 2022 to 2023 was particularly fruitful for Michelle, who clocked the 10 fastest times of her career during the period. In 2023, she finished with sub-13-second times on 14 occasions, proving that she’s still going strong.

On the back of her strong performances, Michelle Jenneke – affectionately known as Shelly – has been selected to the Australian athletics squad for the Paris 2024 Olympics and will be making her second Summer Games appearance.

Born on June 23, 1993, in Kenthurst, New South Wales, Michelle Jenneke started athletics training with her first coach Mick Zisti at the age of 10. Besides athletics, she also dabbled in many different sports in school and played representative-level European handball, futsal, soccer and touch football.

Michelle Jenneke’s medals

At the age of 17, she won the gold medal in 100m hurdles and also broke the national record in women’s sprint medley relay at the 2010 Australian Junior Championships. That same year, she clinched the silver medal in women’s 100m hurdles at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.

At the Oceania Youth Championships that year, she won the gold medals in 100m hurdles and 4x100m relay and also added the bronze medal in 100m sprint to finish with three medals.

Two years later, she was a finalist at the World Junior Championships in Barcelona. It was in Barcelona where Michelle, who took dance lessons for about 10 years, first came to the spotlight. A footage of her pre-race warm-up dance routine went viral and she became an internet sensation overnight.

Michelle made her Australian senior national athletics team debut at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014. She finished fifth in the final with a time of 13.36 and was the youngest competitor for her country there. She won the bronze medal at the World University Games in 2015 with a time of 12.94.

In April 2016, she won the 100m hurdles final at the Australian National Championship the following month to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympics. On her Olympics debut, Michelle Jenneke finished sixth in her heat and failed to make it to the subsequent rounds.

Michelle narrowly missed the podium at the Commonwealth Games 2018 held in Gold Coast, finishing fourth.

Selected for her third World Championships in 2019, she clocked 12.98 in the heats in Doha to progress to her third consecutive semi-final at the marquee athletics event.

The Aussie hurdler’s 2020 and 2021 seasons were hampered due to injuries and cancellation of events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, she missed the bus to Tokyo 2020.

Michelle, however, found herself back in the Australian fold in 2022, when she was selected for the Commonwealth Games and the World Championships. She finished fifth at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

The 2022 and 2023 campaigns, in fact, were extremely productive for Michelle, who clocked her personal best of 12.66s at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon.

The mark made her the second-fastest Australian women’s hurdler of all time behind Sally Pearson, whose 12.28 from 2011 still stands as the national record.

Michelle Jenneke secured a quota for the Paris 2024 Olympics after winning the 100m hurdles event at the Australian National Championships with a time of 12.88s. Heading into the Summer Games, Jennek bettered her PB to 12.65 at the 2024 FBK Games in the Netherlands. Her Olympic venture, however, didn't quite take off and ended in the repechage round.

Michelle is also a three-time women’s 100m hurdles national champion, having clinched the title in 2016, 2023 and 2024. She was also the 4x100m relay champion in 2018.

Michelle Jenneke achievements and personal bests

• Four-time national champion
• Second-fastest women’s 100m hurdler from Australia with a personal best of 12.65s
• Personal best in women’s 60m hurdles - 7.89s
• Youth Olympic Games silver medallist
• Australian Junior Championships winner