Jacob Despard

Jacob Despard (born 20 November 1996) is an Australian sprinter. He competed at the 2024 Olympic Games.^[1]

Jacob Despard

Personal information
Nationality	Australian
Born	(1996-11-20) 20 November 1996 (age 28) Hobart, Tasmania
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Sport
Sport	Track and Field
Event	Sprinting

Early life

From Tasmania, he was a keen cricketer in his youth and specialised as a fast bowler, before focusing on athletics.^[2][3][4]

Career

He made his junior international debut at the 2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics in Eugene, Oregon.^[5] He relocated from Tasmania to Melbourne and shortly afterwards won the Stawell Gift race in 2018.^[6] He made his senior Australian debut at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.^[2]

He ran as part of the Australian 4x100m relay team which qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics at the 2024 World Relays Championships in Nassau, Bahamas.^[7][8] He was a member of Australia's 4x100-metre men's relay team at the 2024 Olympic Games that ran a time of 38.12 seconds to set a new national record.^[9][10][11]

He finished third behind Lachlan Kennedy and Josh Azzopardi over 60 metres at the Australian short track national championships in Sydney on 1 February 2025.^[12] In September 2025, he competed in the men's 4 x 100 metres at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, Japan.^[13][14]