 Hobbs at the2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1997-09-11)11 September 1997 (age 28) Hāwera, New Zealand |
| Height | 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in) |
| Sport | |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Sport | Athletics |
Event | Sprinting |
| Achievements and titles | |
| National finals |
|
| Personalbests | |
Zoe Hobbs (born 11 September 1997)[1] is a New Zealandtrack and fieldsprinter competing in the60 metres,100 m and200 m. She is theOceanian indoor record holder for the 60 m and the Oceanian record holder for the 100 m.
Hobbs was the first Oceanian woman to break the 11-second barrier in the 100 m. She has won 12 individual New Zealand national titles.
Zoe Hobbs was born inStratford,Taranaki, to Dorothy and Grant Hobbs. She isMāori, of theNgāruahineiwi (tribe).[2] She attendedNgaere School, where she enjoyed racing boys barefoot at lunchtime,[3]New Plymouth Girls' High School inNew Plymouth, andMassey University in Auckland, graduating in 2021 with a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Human Nutrition.[4]
She started athletics atEltham Athletics Club at the age of five,[5] though also played other sports growing up. In her final year of high school she started focussing primarily on athletics.[3]
As a 15-year-old, Hobbs made the semi-finals of the100 metres at the2013 World Youth [Under-18] Championships held inDonetsk, Ukraine.[1] She won the national secondary schools 100 m title three years in a row.[6]
She set the current New Zealand U20 100 m record of11.53 s on 20 July 2016 in the heats of theWorld U20 Championships inBydgoszcz, Poland,[7] progressing to the semi-finals.
Hobbs competed inSummer Universiades inTaipei in 2017 andNapoli in 2019, making the finals of both the100 m and the200 m at the latter, as well as winning a bronze medal (and setting a NZ record) as part of the NZ women's4 × 100 m relay. In January 2019, she brokeMichelle Seymour's 1994 New Zealand residents 100 m record with a time of 11.42 s.[8] Later that year, she competed in the100 m and200 m at theWorld Athletics Championships inDoha, Qatar.[1]
In 2021, Hobbs twice equalled Michelle Seymour's 28-year-oldNZ 100 m record of 11.32 s, before lowering it on 18 December to 11.27 s.[9]
In early 2022, she lowered her own NZ 100 m record twice more with 11.21 s and then 11.15 s (which also claimed the NZ all-comers record).[10][7][11] At the2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships held in mid-March inBelgrade, Serbia, Hobbs broke the Oceania60 metres record with a time of7.13 s, qualifying for the semi-finals,[12] where she ran7.16 s, 0.02 outside a finals berth.[13] On 1 April she won the 100 m at theAustralian Athletics Championships in a new championship record time of 11.17 s.[14] On 4 June she was part of a 4 × 100 m relay team that set a NZ 4 × 100 m record (breaking the record she had helped set in April).[15]
Hobbs first broke the Oceania 100 m record on 7 June 2022 in winning the final at theOceania Athletics Championships inMackay, Australia, with a time of 11.09 s. On 16 July, she ran a faster11.08 s to finish second in the first heat of the 100 m at theWorld Athletics Championships,Eugene, Oregon, thus making the semi-finals where she finished fifth (running 11.13).[1] Hobbs made the final of the100 m at the2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, initially finishing sixth but later upgraded to fifth after the original fifth placegetter was disqualified for a doping offence.[16]
On 2 March 2023, Hobbs lowered the Oceania and NZ all-comers' 100 m records with a time of 11.07 s in the heats of the NZ National Championships inWellington. In the final she ran 10.89 s with a 3.4 m/stailwind.[17] On 11 March, at the Sydney Track Classic, Hobbs officially broke the 11-second barrier with 10.97 s to set new Oceania and Australian all-comers' records.[18] Five days later, at the Sir Graeme Douglas International meet inAuckland, she lowered her New Zealand all-comers' record to 11.02 s.[1]
On 2 July 2023, Hobbs ran 10.96 s in the heats of the Resisprint International inLa Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, to again break the Oceania record. At the2023 World Athletics Championships she was tenth fastest overall in the semi-finals of the100 metres, missing the final by 0.01 s. After finishing fourth in theMemorial van Damme in Bruxelles, Belgium, on 8 September, Hobbs was sixth-equal on the2023 Diamond League points table and qualified for the Diamond League Final held at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, USA, on 16–17 September, where she placed ninth in 11.18 s.[19]
On 2 March 2024, Hobbs finished fourth in the final of thewomen's 60 metres at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships, in an Oceanian record of 7.06 s.[20] At the2024 Summer Olympics she progressed to the semi-finals of the100 metres. On 26 September she competed in the inauguralAthlos professional, female-only, track and field meet at Icahn Stadium in New York City.
On 22 March 2025 Hobbs finished sixth in the final of thewomen's 60 metres at the2025 World Athletics Indoor Championships. On 24 June 2025 she broke her own Oceania 100 m record with a time of 10.94 s at theOstrava Golden Spike, aWorld Athletics Continental Tour Gold Meeting.[21] Hobbs competed in four Diamond League meetings in 2025, finishing third in theMeeting International d’Athlétisme Herculis EBS inMonaco on 11 July and sixth in the2025 Weltklasse Zürich Diamond League Final on 28 August.
Hobbs attained a career high 100 m World Ranking of 12th in September 2025[22] (she was ranked 16th at the end of both the 2023 and 2024 northern hemisphere athletics seasons, having attained a ranking of 13th earlier in both those years).
| Event | Time (s) | Wind (m/s) | Location | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 metres indoor | 7.06 | — | Glasgow, United Kingdom | 2 March 2024 | Oceanian Area Record |
| 60 metres outdoor | 7.17 | (+1.2 m/s) | Canberra, Australia | 25 January 2025 | [23] |
| 100 metres | 10.94 | (+0.6 m/s) | Ostrava-Vítkovice,Czech Republic | 24 June 2025 | Oceanian Area Record |
| 200 metres | 23.19 | (+1.8 m/s) | Canberra, Australia | 10 February 2019 |
Hobbs was timed at 10.11 s for 100 yards during her run at the 2023 Sydney Track Classic (credited as the Australian All-Comers Record for the distance).[24]
| Year | Championship | Location | Event | Placing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Summer Universiade | Napoli, Italy | 4 × 100 m relay | 3rd | NR |
| 2019 | Oceania Championships | Townsville, Aus | 100 m | 1st | |
| 2019 | Oceania Championships | Townsville, Aus | 200 m | 2nd | |
| 2022 | Oceania Championships | Mackay, Aus | 100 m | 1st | CR: 11.09;AR |
| 2024 | World Indoor Championships | Glasgow, Scotland | 60 m | 4th | AR |
| 2025 | World Indoor Championships | Nanjing, China | 60 m | 6th |
Hobbs won the Sportswoman of the Year award at the Taranaki Sports Awards in 2022 and 2023 and won the overall sportsperson award in 2023.[25][26]
In October 2025, Hobbs announced her engagement to New Zealand sailorStewart Dodson.[27]
