Halberg Awards win for grad Anna Grimaldi

Huge congratulations to Dunedin Paralympian and Otago Polytechnic alumnus Anna Grimaldi MNZM for winning the Para Athlete/Team of the Year Award at the 62nd ISPS HANDA Halberg Awards.

It was a bumper 2024 for Anna. She won a bronze medal and set an Oceania record in the Women’s 100m T47 at the Paris Paralympic Games, before claiming gold in the Women’s 200m T47, achieving another Oceania record in the process.

The 28-year-old also won a Women’s T47 long jump silver medal and Women’s 100m T47 bronze medal in May, at the Para Athletics World Championships in Kobe, Japan.

(Above photo: ISPS HANDA Halberg Awards;  Header photo: Paralympics New Zealand)

Anna says it meant so much to receive the award from fellow Paralympian Dame Sophie Pascoe.

"I looked up her to growing up and coming through sport as a young person not knowing there was going to be an avenue for me to compete and become a professional athlete with a disability, I am so pleased that Sophie paved the way for the athlete I’ve become."

Anna completed a Diploma in Quantity Surveying Level 6 at Otago Polytechnic in 2018, and in her Halberg Awards acceptance speech thanked her coach Michael Jacobs. He worked here as a teaching assistant and was an Applied Science (Physical Conditioning) graduate, before taking up a role with the NZ Academy High Performance Sport based in Dunedin.

Congratulations Anna on the well deserved recognition!

* Video: Anna Grimaldi's acceptance speech at the Halberg Awards (Instagram/Sky Sport NZ)