It’s no secret Danielle Aitchison loves to run fast.
The 24-year-old para-athlete from Patetonga made that clear at the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships where she snapped up not one but two gold medals for the Women’s 100m T36 final and the Women’s 200m T36 final. It wasn’t until Danielle noticed there was no sight of her main competitor, she thought she might have a chance at gold, Danielle told The Profile. Her time for the 100m race was 13.43 seconds – just 0.02s from her own personal best (PB).
“It was a really big atmosphere and I really enjoyed it, but I didn’t quite get the time that I wanted. I was so close to my PB,” she said.
In the 200m final, Danielle said she applied a bit of pressure on herself with a goal to complete it in 27.20s.
But the young athlete smashed it out of the park with an even faster time, and smashed her own previous world record of 27.47s.
“I was really surprised when I looked up and I saw the time of 27.18s. It was incredible to achieve such a massive PB and to also do it in an environment where it was essentially felt like a time trial because I didn’t see any of my competitors around me,” she said.
“I wasn’t sure how close or far behind they were. All I was just trying to do was just try and run my own race and see what time I could produce.”
Her gold medal for the 200m T36 final marks her third consecutive world title in the event – a ‘three-peat’ achievement. “It just really solidifies my training that I’ve done and it just shows that I’m on the right track,” she said.
Her ultimate goal is to win a gold medal in the Los Angeles Paralympic Games. “And so that’s really what I’m aiming for and pushing for and training really hard for.
Every competition was a “chance to prove myself”, she said, and see where she was going with her training. “It’s just a really nice feeling to know that you’re on track and that all the training, all the sacrifice and all the hard work is, it’s all going towards something,” she said.
But to walk away with two gold medals was incredible, she said, because “it’s not the year that I had planned”.
Prior to the 2025 World Champs, Danielle believed it “wasn’t on the cards” for her to be able to compete.
Following her success at the 2024 Paralympics in Paris, where she claimed silver medals in the Women’s 200m T36 and the Women’s 100m T36 disciplines, Danielle said her focus for training shifted.
“After the Paralympics last year [2024], I really wanted to, I guess, find my joy back in running and back in competing. I actually took the year off,” she said.
Instead of taking part in the typical track and field athletics domestic season, the athlete said her “massive passion” became trail running for 10km distances in the mountains.
“I feel like I’d worked so hard the last four years to lead up to the Paralympic Games. It was such a hard couple of years. And then I didn’t quite get the accomplishment that I wanted at the Paralympic Games that it did really affect me mentally.”
Danielle said she was so rigid and strict around everything she did and needed to be to fulfil the athletic goal she had in her mind. “From eating the right food, sleeping enough hours and doing all my recovery skills. And so obviously all of those take time, which then meant sacrifice of doing other things and hanging out with my family, hanging out with friends,” she said.
“So it was a very, very focused time on being the perfect athlete that I thought I needed to be.”
But the driven athlete was determined to make space to rest, relax and spend time with friends and family.
“I’ve really had more balance this year than I have over the last three years in my life. I think going forward, I want to continue to try and find that balance because it’s not always easy,” she said.
“Sometimes I do go back to my old habits. I’m like, I know I need to get this many hours of sleep. I need to go for my walk. I need to recover. I need to eat the right food. But then I need to keep reminding myself, no, Danielle, you can be an amazing athlete, but you can also have a life of your own and you can go see your family, you can eat chocolate, you can do the things that you really enjoy doing. And you can enjoy training,” she said. “I’m going to try and really remind myself you can enjoy everything.”
Danielle hopes to inspire others by “living it”: enjoying her sport and enjoying what she does.
“I think I got into athletics because I love running and I love running fast. And I think sometimes it can be really hard because as an athlete, we are driven.
“Well, I’m driven to succeed and accomplish great things, but then it can take away from the enjoyment. And so I think [the] last year has been all about enjoying it,” she said.
“I think that’s what I really want to be my message to people is making sure that you enjoy it.”
By DAVIDDA HIKATANGATA
