Maddi Wesche

Last updated

Maddi Wesche
Personal information
Full nameMaddison-Lee Wesche
Born (1999-06-13) 13 June 1999 (age 26)
West Auckland, New Zealand
Alma mater Massey University
Sport
CountryNew Zealand
Sport Athletics
Event Shot put
Coached by
  • Walter Gill
  • Mike Schofield
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)Shot put: 20.09 m (Tokyo, 2025)
Medal record
Women's track and field
Representing Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand
Olympic Games
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2024 Paris Shot put
World Championships
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2025 Tokyo Shot put
Commonwealth Games
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2022 Birmingham Shot put
Oceania Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2017 Suva Shot put
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2019 Townsville Shot put
World U20 Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2018 Tampere Shot put

Maddison-Lee Wesche (born 13 June 1999) is a New Zealand athlete specialising in the shot put. [1] She won the silver medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics. In 2018, she also won a gold medal at the World U20 Championships in Tampere.

Contents

Early life and education

Wesche was born in West Auckland, New Zealand, to parents Renee and Hans. [2] [3] [4] [5] She is of Samoan descent. [4] The middle of three sisters, Wesche comes from a sporting family: her father played basketball, while her mother was a hockey player. She initially played netball before switching to sprinting and, eventually, shot put. [6]

Wesche was educated at Lynfield College in Blockhouse Bay, Auckland, from 2013 to 2017. [7] She completed studies towards the Bachelor of Arts in psychology at Massey University. [8]

Career

Wesche set a personal best of 18.65 m in the qualifying round of shot put at the 2020 Summer Olympics, improving to 18.98 m in the final and finishing in sixth place. [9]

Wesche took the bronze medal at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, with a put of 20.06 m, equalling her personal best. [10]

International competitions

YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
Representing Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand
2015 World Youth Championships Cali, Colombia 17th (q)Shot put (3 kg)15.23 m
2016 World U20 Championships Bydgoszcz, Poland 20th (q)Shot put 13.79 m
2017 Oceania Championships Suva, Fiji 1stShot put15.27 m
2018 World U20 Championships Tampere, Finland 1stShot put 17.09 m
2019 Oceania Championships Townsville, Australia 1stShot put18.04 m
Universiade Naples, Italy 6thShot put 17.22 m
World Championships Doha, Qatar 25th (q)Shot put 17.22 m
2021 Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan 6thShot put 18.98 m
2022 World Championships Eugene, United States 7thShot put 19.50 m
Commonwealth Games Birmingham, United Kingdom 3rdShot put 19.03 m
2023 World Championships Budapest, Hungary 7thShot put 19.51 m
2024 World Indoor Championships Glasgow, United Kingdom 4thShot put 19.62 m
Olympic Games Paris, France 2ndShot put 19.86 m
2025 World Indoor Championships Nanjing, China 15thShot put 16.52 m

References

  1. Maddi Wesche at World Athletics OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  2. "Maddi Wesche | New Zealand Olympic Team". olympic.org.nz. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
  3. van Royen, Robert (24 August 2024). "Paris Olympics: Maddi Wesche uncorks personal-best to win shot put silver". The Press. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
  4. 1 2 "'Cool, calm Sāmoan' culture helps Wesche claim historic silver". PMN | Pacific Media Network. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
  5. @thenzteam (20 April 2024). "For Olympian @maddiwesche, the community of West Auckland has served as her home, her support and the very foundation of her journey". Instagram. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
  6. Athletics New Zealand (18 June 2018). "Wesche working towards World Under 20 Champs in Finland". The New Zealand Herald . Archived from the original on 3 December 2024. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  7. McNab, Alec (15 August 2024). "Athletics insight: 'Quiet improver' Maddi Wesche's silver medal a highlight of Paris Olympics track and field competition". Whanganui Chronicle . Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  8. "Maddie Wesche's Journey Since Gold". Athletics New Zealand. 4 July 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
  9. "Olympic Stadium – Shot Put A – 30 Jul – 19:25 – Official". Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. 30 July 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  10. "Athletics: Wesche breaks 20m, Joynt sets lifetime best at 200m". RNZ. 6 July 2025. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
Awards
Preceded by Halberg Awards – Emerging Talent Award
2018
Succeeded by