Anna GrimaldiMNZM (born 12 February 1997) is a New Zealand para-athlete, primarily competing in the long jump and sprint events. She has won two gold medals at Paralympics in the women's long jump: at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, and at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo.[1][2]
Grimaldi started para-athletics after attending a Paralympic talent identification event in October 2013. She initially was reluctant to attend, having had no formal athletics training and fearing she would be "shocking".[4][5] She is classifiedT47 for track events and long jump, and F46 for field events.[8] She won her first international competition medal, the bronze in the women's long jump T47, at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha, Qatar. She set a personal best of 5.41 m, while her second-best 5.38 m secured her the bronze medal over Russian Alexandra Moguchaya on countback.[9] Grimaldi also placed fifth in the women's 200 metres T47 final.[10]
Her long jump distance at the 2015 World Championships ranked her in the top five in the long jump T47 during the Paralympics qualifying period, earning her a slot at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. She was officially confirmed to represent New Zealand at the Paralympics on 23 May 2016.[11] At the Paralympics, she won the gold medal in the women's long jump T47 with a distance of 5.62 m, breaking her personal best by 21 cm.[1][12] She also placed fourth in the women's 100 metres T47 final,[13] and competed in the 200 metres T47 where she was disqualified in the heat for a lane infringement.[14]
At the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships, Grimaldi ran the 200 m heats before pulling out of the 200 m final and 100 m due to a recurring foot injury in order to concentrate on the long jump. She placed fourth in the long jump, missing the medals by one centimetre.[15]
Returning to New Zealand after the 2017 championships, Grimaldi's foot injury was discovered to be a stress fracture in her left navicular bone. She subsequently missed the entire 2018 season.[15][16]
At the 2021 Otago Athletics Championships Grimaldi set a personal best of 5.91 m, ten centimetres short of the T47 world record and placing her second in the overall (able-bodied and para) annual national rankings.[17] At the delayed 2020 Summer Paralympics, Grimaldi won the gold medal in the women's long jump T47 with a distance of 5.76 m, setting a new Paralympic Games record.[18]