Samantha Dale (athletics) finished 10th in the women’s long jump at her first Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. It was another stellar result for the western Sydney athlete in 2022 who raised her PB from 6.32m to 6.72m, won her first senior Australian title and made her green and gold debut at the world championships in Eugene just two weeks before the Games.

Samantha started athletics in the under-11s at North Rocks Carlingford Little Athletics Club in Sydney, her summer sport when she wasn’t netball. She won back-to-back NSW titles in 2017 and 2018, then won the junior national title in 2018 ahead of a landmark 2019. After making the difficult choice to give up netball which she had played for 13 years, she won the national and Oceania under-20 titles before joining coach Andrew Murphy at the end of the year.

Samantha balances her training and competition commitments with a role as a part time sports administrator Pymble Ladies’ College in Sydney and her studies towards an associate degree in Sport Business at the Australian College of Physical Education.