Pic1 PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES.

MICHELLE WHO?

Haven’t heard of her? You probably just reckon you haven’t ... Think “pre-race jiggle dance”. Michelle Jenneke is the Sydney gal who sent the internet into meltdown with her warm-up prior to her heat at the 2012 World Juniors. She is rather easy on the eye. And it was definitely rather cute. And it has since rated only about 27 million views on Youtube ...

When quizzed about her dancey warm-up, and that radiant smile permanently plastered across her face, it’s clear this is a young woman simply loving her sport, loving life, and definitely not minding the attention. It started as a bit of fun to relax herself before a race, and has since won her worldwide fame, with subsequent appearances on talkshows and in several steamy videos – even the 2013 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. She even raced a certain Jeremy Clarkson (driving a car) for the Top Gear touring show last year – that’s how famous she is! But it’s the joy of running that comes shining through in her interviews.

Yes, Michelle Jenneke also runs ... and she is quick. And getting quicker. Just last month she won her first senior international medal with a bronze at the World University Games in South Korea – importantly, qualifying herself for next year’s Rio Olympics by going under 13 seconds with a 12.94, even with a cramping calf in the final stages that caused her to cautiously back off after leading for the first three-quarters of the race. That follows on from her fifth at the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games final last year. She’s shaved half a second off her PB in the last 12 months – and could go even faster at this month’s World Championships in Beijing. With World and Olympic champion Sally Pearson benched after her shocking fall earlier this year, it will be Jenneke flying the flag for the women on the hurdles track.

Pic2 PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES.

WHAT’S HER STORY?

Jenneke grew up in the Hills District in Sydney’s north-west, joining Cherrybrook Athletics Club as a nine-year-old and coming under the patient tutelage of coach Mick Zisti, brother of former rugby league footballer Nick. Zisti keeps things fun and low-key in his camp, and it all seems to be working.

At school she played pretty much anything going: soccer, futsal, handball, basketball and touch. But the track was always there, and her breakthrough win came in 2010 when she won the 100m hurdles at the Australian Junior Championships; she followed that up with a silver at the 2010 Singapore Youth Olympic Games.

Since then, it’s been a gradual rise through the ranks for Jenneke, with that fifth in Edinburgh a definite sign that she was at home in the senior ranks.

On that score, it obviously doesn’t hurt to have the world and Olympic champion alongside her in recent major meets. “I really enjoy racing against Sally because she pushes me into faster times,” she says. “And I think she enjoyed racing against me this domestic season because she hasn’t had anyone that close to her in Australia for a while. I think it gave her some motivation to have to put her foot down on Australian soil and pull up some good times.”

Jenneke is clearly not just a pretty face: she currently studies mechatronic engineering and computer science at Sydney University. Now, stepping out of Pearson’s dominant shadow on the track, if not the internet, Jenneke has an opportunity to show she has the potential to go to the next rung at this month’s World Championships. And maybe collect a few gazillion more Youtube hits ...