Australia’s youngest ever representative Kelsey Cottrell was the inaugural World Bowls Series No 1 ranked female player.
Kelsey won three medals at the 2008 World Bowls Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand. Four years later, she won gold in the pairs with Rebecca Quail (now Van Asch) and a team gold, a feat that was repeated in 2016, again in Christchurch, when she won gold in the fours with Natasha Van Eldik, Rebecca Van Asch and Carla Krizanic.
In the 2023 event, Kelsey won silver in the fours losing to England in the final, while one week later in the triples (partnering Lynsey Clarke and Dawn Hayman), the trio won the group undefeated and reached the final against New Zealand, going on to win the gold medal. 2023 also saw her win mixed pairs gold with Aron Sherriff at the World Bowls Indoor Championship.
Cottrell competed in the 2010 Commonwealth Games where she won a bronze medal in the singles, four years later she won silver in the triples at the 2014 Glasgow games and in 2018 on the Gold Coast she claimed gold in the fours with Krizanic, Van Eldik and Van Asch once again. A mum of two, Cottrell has won nine medals at the Asia Pacific Championships and with the juggernaut trio of Lynsey Clarke, Anne Johns and Rebecca Van Asch has a combined Australian Open title haul of 37 titles. She also won the New Zealand Open National Women’s Singles title in 2016.
Record:
- Commonwealth Games: ’10 (singles bronze), ’14 (triples silver), ’18 (fours gold)
- World Bowls Championships: ’08 (singles bronze), ’08 (triples silver), ’12 (pairs gold), ’16 (fours gold), ’23 (triples gold), ’23 (fours silver)
- Asia Pacific golds: ’11 (triples), ’15 (pairs), ’15 (fours), ’19 (pairs)
- World Bowls Champion of Champions: ’09
