Sarah Carli (athletics) overcame more setbacks than most to make her Commonwealth Games debut in Birmingham where she finished 6th in the women’s 400m hurdles, Australia’s only representative in the event. Just 18 months earlier – and having just found out she had qualified for the Tokyo Olympics – Carli had an accident in the gym which required immediate vascular surgery to save the carotid artery in her neck. Doctors also told her she needed to keep her heart rate below 120 beats per minute and not exercise for five months. However, with intensive rehabilitation, she recovered in time to make her Olympic debut in Tokyo where she placed fifth in her heat in 56.93 secs.

Sarah answered a Little Athletics advertisement in her school newsletter when she was eight and never looked back. She found great success on the track as a junior, winning the Australian Schools 400m hurdles in 2010 and earning selection for the 2011 World Youth Championships in Lille where she won silver. However, juggling a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Wollongong alongside late nights working at Costco, injuries and other aspects of life, the Kembla Joggers Athletics Club hurdler didn’t improve her PB for another seven years – until she ran a PB 55.43 at the 2018 Canberra Track Classic. However, she fell short of a spot at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games just two months later. 

Sarah claimed her first Australian title in April 2022, but it took until mid-year to get back to her pre accident form, winning the Oceania title in June, reaching the semi-finals at the Eugene world championships in July and finishing 6th at the Commonwealth Games two weeks later. In 2023, she smashed her PB again (54.66 sec), moving up to no.3 all-time Australian behind Debbie Flintoff-King and Jana Pittman.  She just missed the semi-finals at her third world champs in Budapest then won her third national title and competed at her second Olympic Games in Paris in 2024.

Carli works as a financial adviser with HLB Mann Judd in Wollongong.