Payne ends hammer season on a high

Hammer thrower Charlotte Payne rounded off a memorable season with a massive 70.12m throw at the Ron Bowden Memorial meeting in Woodford – the third time the Thatcham-based thrower has surpassed the 70 metre mark this year.

“I loved the experience at Woodford,” Payne said.

“Physically and mentally I felt so tired, but I wanted to finish this season on a high.

“I knew I was close to throwing a big one and I saved the best till last again.

“I feel I can properly call myself a 70 metre thrower now, I proved it wasn’t a fluke.”

A fluke it certainly was not – since the start of 2022, Payne has improved her personal best by 6.5 metres, the result of hours and hours of hard work and an unrivalled commitment and dedication to the sport.

She said: “This season has been incredible, I never anticipated that it would go as well as it did.

“It’s taken me a while to process it all really, my brain is still catching up with what my body’s doing.

“I’m so grateful to my entire support team who have helped make this happen, I’d be nowhere near where I am without them.

“At the start of the winter season last year, we created project 68 with the aim of throwing 68 metres this season.

“At the time I thought it was an ambitious target, but I threw it quite early into the season and then we decided to push it as far as we could, I don’t think we were ever prepared to break 70 metres.”

The nature of hammer throw is such that it tends to favour more experienced competitors who have had years to improve their techniques and thus their distances but the 20-year-old – as she has done all her life – has ripped up the rule book, winning the British Championships, the English Championships and the English Under-23 Championships.

“It’s really nice to have the full set, not many people can say that,” Payne said.

“Last year I came 10th at the British Championships, so it was quite a step up.

“I feel so pleased that I proved that I can perform at national level, I’m looking to retain all three titles next year.”

Payne’s form earned her a first senior international call up to Team GB, competing at the European Championships held in Munich last month.

“It was a surreal experience being on the same team as some of my idols, I was definitely fangirling,” she said.

“It’s always difficult to bridge the gap between competing against others your own age to competing against the best in the world, regardless of how old they are, but I feel I’ve proved that I can.”

Payne’s impressive list of achievements are made even more so by the fact that she is profoundly deaf, which impacts her balance – a crucial element when it comes to hammer throw.

She’s broken her own deaf world record countless times and recently appeared on the BBC to discuss competing as a deaf athlete.

She said: “I am profoundly deaf but that’s never been the thing that’s defined me, it’s athletics first, deafness second.

“I used to hide my hearing because I thought it was a weakness, I think a lot of it was due to a lack of role models that were like me.

"Over the past few years, particularly through lockdown, I've been forced to own it.

"I'm totally reliant on lip reading but with face masks I had to tell everyone about my deafness.

"Now I love it because it’s what makes me different to everyone else and all my competitors.

"Breaking the deaf world record helped me realise just how many obstacles I've had to overcome."

Now Payne will look to continue to improve as she trains over the winter ahead of next year’s European Under-23 Championships in Finland and the World Championships in Hungary as well as the Paris Olympics in 2024.

“I have my sights firmly set on a medal at the European Under-23 Championships,” she said.

“The World Championships would be an incredible experience, it would be a good opportunity to compete against girls who I might hopefully face in Paris.

“The Olympics are the ultimate goal, it would be a childhood dream come true.

"I'm on the right track but I've got to keep putting in the work, hopefully it'll happen.

“I think it would be huge for a lot of deaf athletes so I’m doing it for all of them, not just myself.”

It’s clear Payne has big dreams - and a big throw that might just help her achieve them.