Joanna Blair

Blair trained at Luton Athletics Club, and also worked as a sports masseuse.^[2] In 2003, she won the English Schools Senior Championship javelin event.^[3] She came second in the javelin event at the 2004 Commonwealth Youth Games, behind Australian Annabel Thomson.^[4] Blair competed at the 2005 European Athletics Junior Championships.^[2] She came second in the 2006 AAA Championships.^[5] She came seventh in the 2010 South of England Championships, with a best throw of 42.20m.^[6]

Blair came third in the javelin event at the 2014 British Athletics Championships.^[5] She won the javelin event at the 2016 British Athletics Championships, in a personal best distance of 57.44m, more than three metres better than her previous best.^[2] It was the seventh best throw ever by a British female javelin thrower.^[2] Later in the year, she won the England Athletics Championships with a best throw of 52.63m,^[7] and she was named Luton's female sportsperson of the year.^[8]

In 2017, she competed at the Nitro Athletics team event in Australia.^[2][9] She failed to qualify for the 2017 World Championships in Athletics in London;^[2] the qualifying distance was 61.50 metres.^[9] She came second at the 2017 trial event for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia, and was considered a contender for a place at the Games.^[2] She came second to Laura Whittingham at the 2017 British Athletics Championships.^[10]

Blair served a four-year competition ban from 2017 to 2021 for an anti-doping rule violation after testing positive for the anabolic steroid metandienone whilst attending the 2017 European Team Championships in French in June 2017.^[11] UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) did not accept her explanation that she had unintentionaly ingested the substance via a contaminated supplement. Her results at the European Team Championships were disqualified.^[12]