Aliyah Canepa’s got a hammer and she’s not afraid to use it.
The 14-year-old Werribee resident is a throwing dynamo, excelling in the hammer throw, discus and shot put – and she has her sights set on the 2020 Tokyo Olypmics.
Aliyah, who has competed with Werribee Little Athletics for the past decade and senior club Western Athletics for three years, smashed the Victorian hammer-throw record for her age group at the all-schools national championships in December last year.
She came fifth in both discus and shot put at the same event.
“Running is boring – with throwing you hang around and make friends,” she said.
“I was naturally good at shot put, then discuss. When my dad started doing hammer, I wanted to start because it looked cool. Now I’m the Australian champion.”
Aliyah returns this week from a four-day Australian Institute of Sport camp in Canberra.
Aliyah, who attends specialist sports school Maribyrnong Secondary College, is trained by her father, Fernando Canepa, himself a former competitive thrower.
“He doesn’t act like my dad when we’re [training] – he’s a lot of fun on the track,” she said.
Aliyah, who recently received a Mayoral Youth Award, plans to qualify for the 2018 world junior championsips before hopefully making the cut for the 2020 Olympics.
