Zoe Hobbs

Zoe Hobbs (born 11 September 1997) is a New Zealand track and field sprinter competing in the 60 metres, 100 m and 200 m. She won the gold medal in the 100 metres at the 2026 Commonwealth Games, the first New Zealand athlete to win the event. She is the Oceanian indoor record holder for the 60 m and the Oceanian record holder for the 100 m, the latter achieved in winning the Commonwealth Games gold.

Hobbs was the first Oceanian woman to break the 11-second barrier in the 100 m. She has won 13 individual New Zealand national titles.

Early life and background Zoe Hobbs was born in Stratford, Taranaki, to Dorothy and Grant Hobbs. She is Māori, of the Ngāruahine (tribe). She attended Ngaere School, where she enjoyed racing boys barefoot at lunchtime, New Plymouth Girls' High School in New Plymouth, and Massey University in Auckland, graduating in 2021 with a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Human Nutrition.

She started athletics at Eltham Athletics Club at the age of five, though also played other sports growing up. In her final year of high school she started focussing primarily on athletics.

She set the current New Zealand U20 100 m record of 11.53 s on 20 July 2016 in the heats of the World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, progressing to the semi-finals.

Hobbs competed in Summer Universiades in Taipei in 2017 and Napoli in 2019, making the finals of both the 100 m and the 200 m at the latter, as well as winning a bronze medal (and setting a NZ record) as part of the NZ women's 4 × 100 m relay. In January 2019, she broke Michelle Seymour's 1994 New Zealand residents 100 m record with a time of 11.42 s. Later that year, she competed in the 100 m and 200 m at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar.

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). At the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships held in mid-March in Belgrade, Serbia, Hobbs broke the Oceania 60 metres record with a time of 7.13 s, qualifying for the semi-finals, where she ran 7.16 s, 0.02 outside a finals berth. On 1 April she won the 100 m at the Australian Athletics Championships in a new championship record time of 11.17 s. 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).

Hobbs first broke the Oceania 100 m record on 7 June 2022 in winning the final at the Oceania Athletics Championships in Mackay, Australia, with a time of 11.09 s. On 16 July, she ran a faster 11.08 s to finish second in the first heat of the 100 m at the World Athletics Championships, Eugene, Oregon, thus making the semi-finals where she finished fifth (running 11.13).

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 in Wellington. In the final she ran 10.89 s with a 3.4 m/s tailwind. 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. Five days later, at the Sir Graeme Douglas International meet in Auckland, she lowered her New Zealand all-comers' record to 11.02 s.

On 2 March 2024, Hobbs finished fourth in the final of the women's 60 metres at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships, in an Oceanian record of 7.06 s. At the 2024 Summer Olympics she progressed to the semi-finals of the 100 metres. On 26 September she competed in the inaugural Athlos 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 the women's 60 metres at the 2025 World Athletics Indoor Championships. On 24 June 2025 she broke her own Oceania 100 m record with a time of 10.94 s at the Ostrava Golden Spike, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold Meeting. Hobbs competed in four Diamond League meetings in 2025, finishing third in the Meeting International d’Athlétisme Herculis EBS in Monaco on 11 July and sixth in the 2025 Weltklasse Zürich Diamond League Final on 28 August.

Hobbs attained a career high 100 m World Ranking of 12th in September 2025.

On 28 July 2026, Hobbs won the gold medal in the 100 metres at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, running a new Oceanian record of 10.93 seconds.

Personal bests 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 Canberra, Australia 25 January 2025 100 metres 10.93 Glasgow, United Kingdom 28 July 2026 Oceanian Area Record 200 metres 23.19 Canberra, Australia 10 February 2019

Hobbs was timed at 10.11 s for 100 yards during her 100m run at the 2023 Sydney Track Classic (credited as the Australian All-Comers Record for the distance).

International achievements Year Championship Location Event Placing Notes 2019 Summer Universiade Napoli, Italy 4 × 100 m relay NR 2019 Oceania Championships Townsville, Aus 100 m 2019 Oceania Championships Townsville, Aus 200 m 2022 Oceania Championships Mackay, Aus 100 m CR: 11.09; AR 2024 World Indoor Championships Glasgow, Scotland 60 m 4th 7.06 AR 2025 World Indoor Championships Nanjing, China 60 m 6th 2026 Oceania Championships Darwin, Aus 100 m CR 11.00 2026 Commonwealth Games Glasgow, Scotland 100 m 10.93 AR

Awards 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.

Personal life In October 2025, Hobbs announced her engagement to New Zealand sailor Stewart Dodson.