A gold medallist at three successive Paralympic Games in Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, Paralympian Anna Grimaldi is one of most loved and respected Para athletes in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Passionate about sport from a very young age, playing netball and basketball, Para athletics, has provided the gateway to her future success.
Since attending a Paralympics New Zealand (PNZ) Talent Identification camp in her native Dunedin in late 2013, she has never looked back.
Attending her first Para Athletics World Championships in 2015, Anna impressed to climb the podium with a breakthrough bronze medal in the Women’s Long Jump T47.
Competing at the Paralympics
Her Paralympic dream became reality at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games when Anna, then aged just 19, won the hearts of a nation, striking gold in the Women’s Long Jump T47 courtesy of a PB in the final round jump.
Anna’s gold medal jump contributed to the NZ Paralympic Team’s stunning 21-medal haul accumulated by 12 individual medallists at Rio 2016 (nine gold, five silver and seven bronze). The Team finished first in the world per capita and 13th in the world overall.
Her success in Rio motivated Anna to commit to being a full-time athlete. After overcoming a foot stress fracture, Anna won silver in the Women’s Long Jump T47 at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships. During the 2021 summer season, Anna was in flying form, achieving a flurry of PBs and improving her national women’s long jump T47 record by 29cm.
At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, Anna successfully defended her title, winning gold in the Women’s Long Jump T47. Leading from the opening round she set a Paralympic Record of 5.74m, before adding a further 2cm to this mark with her fourth attempt.
Anna enjoyed a memorable 2023 World Para Athletics Championships in Paris. Describing her season as ‘risk-taking’ she started work with a new coach (Mike Jacobs) and arrived in Europe early in preparation for her appearance in the French capital. It paid off. Anna earned her first ever global track medal with a shock bronze in the T47 100m in a time of 12.32, leading her to exclaim “I’m not a 100m runner I’m a long jumper, but I guess now I’m sort of a 100m runner!” She had earlier set an Oceania record of 12.31 in the heat. In her signature long jump event, she smashed her national record mark to secure silver, soaring out to 5.96m (-1.0).
Anna maintained her streak of success on the international stage at the Kobe 2024 Para Athletics World Championships by winning Long Jump T47 silver and 100m T47 bronze.
One of two NZ Paralympic Team flagbearers at the Opening Ceremony for Paris 2024 she went on to enjoy an unforgettable Games in the French capital. Setting two Oceania records in the Women’s 100m T47, she claimed bronze in a time of 12.20. Finishing fourth in the Women’s Long Jump T47 – just 1cm shy of the podium – she bounced back in spectacular fashion in the Women’s 200m T47. Setting Oceania records in both the heat and the final of Women’s 200m T47, Anna claimed a stunning gold medal in a time of 24.72 – to better her pre-Games PB by more than a second.
The South Islander continued her successful sporting journey at the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi. After missing out on a bronze medal in the Women’s 100m T47 by one- thousandth of a second, she went on to claim a bronze medal in the Women’s 200m T47 final, recording a season’s best of 24.82.
An inaugural member of the PNZ Athletes’ Council, providing a valuable athlete voice to decision-making, Anna studied both Quantity Surveying and Construction Management at Otago and Open Polytechnic, respectively.
Anna officially received her ‘numbered’ Paralympian Pin as part of The Celebration Project in Dunedin in February 2021. Anna won the 2025 Para Athlete/Para Team of the Year award at the 62nd ISPS Handa Halberg Awards.
