Joel Baden

• Age: 28
• Degree: Bachelor of Arts and Science - Former student
• Sport: Athletics
• Event/Category: High Jump
• Olympic History: Rio 2016 (41st); Paris 2024 (27th in Men's High Jump)
  
• Club: Melbourne University Athletics Club
• Scholarship: Inaugural Andrew and Geraldine Buxton Athletics Scholar

Former Bachelor of Arts and Science student, Joel Baden is a successful high jumper who will be competing in his second Olympics this year.

Growing up in Geelong, Joel was first exposed to high jump through his local athletics club, Peninsula Little Athletics. What started as just an active hobby, soon turned into a possible career and future in the sport. As he progressed through his teenage years, he became the leading junior high jumper in Australia. Debuting for his country at just 18 years old, he finished eighth with a 2.17m jump at the 2014 World Junior Championships.

This experienced proved enough to motivate Joel, as at a schools meet in October of the same year he went above and beyond, literally. In what would prove to be his magic height, he cleared a height of 2.29m, winning the competition by a wild 34cm. Having now qualified for his senior debut at the 2015 World Championships, he cleared an only slightly less impressive height of 2.26m in the qualifying round.

The following year in Cairns, Joel once again cleared a height of 2.29m, which was the Rio Olympic qualifying height.

He has competed at Commonwealth Games and World Championships since, improving his PB to 2.30m in 2019, but was unable to reproduce that ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, unfortunately missing out.

Spurred on by the disappointment, he finally made a breakthrough in 2023 where he moved to number three in Australian history. Joel cleared his best height of 2.33m, before then Winning the national title with a clearance of 2.32, ultimately doing enough to earn a ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics.