Briana Stephenson

Event: Heptathlon

• Coach: Matthew Wyatt
• Club: Hastings Athletics Club‍
• ‍Personal best: 6098 (2026)
• NZ Heptathlon Champion 2025

Briana Stephenson’s rise in the heptathlon is anything but ordinary. With a personal best of 6098 points this season and a national title to her name, she is quickly establishing herself as a World Class heptathlete. Still early in her heptathlon journey, Briana’s rapid progression signals there is plenty more to come as she builds toward the international stage.

Her path to the heptathlon has been shaped by resilience and reinvention. A talented jumper and sprinter through her early years, Briana represented New Zealand in both the NZSS netball team and the Oceania Athletics team in 2016 before a serious knee injury in high school derailed her plans to pursue the collegiate pathway in the United States. She continued to compete in long jump and sprints—earning selection for the World University Games in 2019 and claiming the national long jump title in 2020—before changing direction in 2022. Following a second knee surgery, she took on the challenge of the heptathlon, learning new disciplines and stepping into the unknown. Just three years later, she is already a national champion.

The Aotearoa Athletics Trust is proud to support Briana as she plans to take on Europe this year and solidify her position as an international heptathlete.

“I am incredibly grateful to receive an Aotearoa Athletics Trust Grant this year. One of the biggest, unspoken challenges of being an athlete at this level is the associated financial stress, so AAT's support eases that burden and allows me to focus on performing well in Europe this year. What they are doing for athletics in NZ is incredibly valuable - not only reducing the financial strain on self funded athletes, but also showing their belief in our journeys.”

A proud Hawke’s Bay local, Briana has called Tāmaki Makaurau home for the past eight years. Off the track, she is deeply passionate about health and wellbeing, holding a Bachelor of Science, Physiology. She gives back through coaching athletics and speed development for emerging athletes, and also works part-time in her partner’s business, XPAND, managing customer support, partnerships, and email marketing. She’s also the founder of “Take Flight,” an initiative aimed at making European competition opportunities more accessible for Oceania athletes, a project she hopes to revisit in the future.

Energetic and adventurous by nature, Briana thrives outside her comfort zone—whether that’s volunteering at a preschool in Africa, spending time with family and friends, or chasing her next adrenaline fix.

Click here to follow more of Briana's journey on Instagram.