Matthew Denny

Matthew Denny (born 2 June 1996) is an Australian athlete specialising in the discus throw.^[3] He won the bronze medal in the men's discus throw at the Paris 2024 Olympics.^[4]

Mathew Denny

Denny in 2018
Personal information
Nickname	Matty
Nationality	Australian
Born	(1996-06-02) 2 June 1996 (age 29) Toowoomba, Australia
Education	Toowoomba Grammar School,[1] Griffith University
Height	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)[2]
Weight	120 kg (265 lb)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	Discus throw, hammer throw
Medal record Men's athletics Representing  Australia Olympic Games 2024 Paris Discus throw Diamond League 2023 Discus Throw 2024 Discus Throw Commonwealth Games 2022 Birmingham Discus throw 2018 Gold Coast Hammer throw

Early life

Denny grew up in the small town of Allora (population 1000), located 60 km outside Toowoomba and 150 km south-west of Brisbane. He had plenty of space to throw things. For example, in Grade 1 at primary school he threw bean bags as shot puts and vortexes as javelins. His main focus, though, until grade 8 or 9, was rugby league. Denny was one of eight siblings and just wanted to be as good as his rugby-playing brothers.^[5]

In his teens Denny turned his attention to athletics and built a homemade discus circle on his family's rural property. In 2013, he won the World Under 18 Youth Championships discus title and then came fourth at the 2014 Under 20 World Junior Championships. He then won a silver medal at the 2015 Summer Universiade.^[5]

Achievements

In April 2016, Denny won the national discus title with a throw of 60.47m and the hammer title with 68.44m.^[6] He became just the second athlete in the near 100-year history of the event to win this double and the first since Keith Pardon in 1953 – 63 years earlier.^{[citation needed]}

Denny represented Australia in the discus throw at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. At the 2018 Commonwealth Games held in Brisbane, Australia, Denny competed in both the discus and hammer throw events, coming second in the hammer throw with a PB of 74.88 metres and fourth in the discus throw. He was the second Australian athlete, and first in 68 years, to compete in both events at the Commonwealth Games, following Keith Pardon who competed in the same pair at the 1938 and 1950 Empire Games.^[5]

In February 2020 in Wellington New Zealand, Denny threw a personal best discus throw of 65.47m. In March 2021 he won the national discus title with 63.88m. In June 2021, on the Gold Coast, Queensland, he threw a 68 cm personal best of 66.15m which both qualified him for discus throw at the 2020 Summer Olympics and moved him from fifth to third Australian all-time.^[5] He competed in the final of the 2020 Olympic discus throw, throwing 67.02 m, just 0.05 m less than the bronze medalist, Lukas Weißhaidinger of Austria.^[7][8]

Denny won gold in the discus throw at the 2022 Commonwealth Games with a PB of 67.26 m (all five of his other throws were over 65.25 m). He won the 2023 Diamond League Final.

In the Paris 2024 Olympics, Denny secured the bronze medal in the men's discus throw with a throw of 69.31 meters, earning a spot on the podium alongside gold medalist Rojé Stona and silver medalist Mykolas Alekna.^[4] His throw was amongst the longest in Olympic history.^[9] He then threw a meeting record 69.96m to win the 2024 Diamond League final in Brussels, Belgium.^[10]

Denny set a new Australian and Oceanian record of 72.07 metres at a meet on 6 April 2025 at the Seal Throwing Club LLC / Throw Town, Ramona, Oklahoma, USA, the 5th longest discus throw in history.^[11] All five of his other throws were over 69 metres.

On 10 April 2025 Denny threw 74.25 m at the Oklahoma Throws Series, just 10cm shy of the world record, and, with a series of 71.03m, 73.46m, 74.25, 72.93m, 71.14m and 73.56m,^[12] he achieved a series average of 72.72 m, the best in history.^[13]

His personal best in the hammer throw is 74.88 m set in Gold Coast in 2018.

International competitions

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  Australia
2013	World Youth Championships	Donetsk, Ukraine	1st	Discus throw (1.5 kg)	67.54 m
			3rd	Hammer throw (5 kg)	78.67 m
2014	World Junior Championships	Eugene, United States	4th	Discus throw (1.75 kg)	62.73 m
			23rd (q)	Hammer throw (6 kg)	69.16 m
2015	Universiade	Gwangju, South Korea	2nd	Discus throw	62.58 m
2016	Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	19th (q)	Discus throw	61.16 m
2018	Commonwealth Games	Gold Coast, Australia	4th	Discus throw	62.53 m
			2nd	Hammer throw	74.88 m
2019	Universiade	Naples, Italy	1st	Discus throw	65.27 m
	World Championships	Doha, Qatar	6th	Discus throw	65.43 m
2021	Olympic Games	Tokyo, Japan	4th	Discus throw	67.02 m
2022	World Championships	Eugene, Oregon	6th	Discus throw	66.47 m
	Commonwealth Games	Birmingham, England	1st	Discus throw	67.26 m PB
2023	World Championships	Budapest, Hungary	4th	Discus throw	68.24 m
2024	Australian Athletics Championships	Adelaide, Australia	1st	Discus throw	69.35 m NR
	Olympic Games	Paris, France	3rd	Discus throw	69.31 m