Kyabram’s Olivia Cartwright took home a history-making five medals from the 2026 Henselite Victorian Open. Photos: Bowls Victoria
Kyabram prodigy Olivia Cartwright completed a history-making week at the Henselite Victorian Open, becoming the first bowler to win every event at the tournament.
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Cartwright took home every possible title she competed for, winning each one of her 32 matches in the process and setting an unassailable record.
Across the 10 days, Cartwright, 21, won the mixed pairs, women’s triples, women’s pairs and women’s singles, also winning the Barb Gilbert Medal for her performance, which is awarded to the bowler who has accumulated the most points across all four events.
The five medals won not only represented a record for Cartwright, but each came with a sum of prizemoney, with the bowler accumulating a total pool of more than $17,000 won at the tournament.
“You see things and records broken across all aspects of life and sporting achievements and things like that, but I don't think my inner self has realised how big of a deal this is,” Cartwright said.
“To win all of them and to know that someone can only ever match that record, they can't actually beat it unless they create some other event or something, it’s pretty special.”
The first event Cartwright won was the mixed pairs alongside fellow up-and-coming bowler Sam Rogers from Glenroy, who she praised for his “unbelievable” play.
Cartwright and Rogers faced another youthful duo in Marlie Malcolm and Tyson Cromie in the final, with the Kyabram native saying that it was incredible to see a younger demographic reaching the latter stages of events at the tournament.
The final was well-contested, Cartwright and Rogers winning 18-12, pulling away after a relatively even first eight ends.
Olivia Cartwright’s first win at the Victorian Open was with Glenroy’s Sam Rogers in the mixed pairs.
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“Towards the end, we’ve just applied that back end pressure and managed to do enough,” Cartwright said.
Cartwright progressed through each of her events with relative ease, such was the dominance displayed, though she was also quick to point out the assistance partner Lisa Phillips provided during tense moments in the women’s pairs and triples, ultimately keeping a pursuit of the record alive.
In the women’s pairs quarter-final against Newborough’s Sheryl and Sammy Atkinson, Cartwright and Phillips were all square at 13-13 after the allocated ends, meaning an extra end had to be played to determine the winner.
Phillips hit what Cartwright described as an “insane shot” to win the game on the final end, setting up the duo to go on and win the semi-final and final 14-10 and 19-5, respectively.
Olivia Cartwright and Lisa Phillips celebrate during the women's pairs.
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In a stunning turn of events, Phillips came in clutch again during the women’s triples, at the quarter-final stage, and also with scores locked at 13-13.
Phillips was Cartwright’s skip for the triples and she successfully moved the opponent’s bowl on the final end, which was only a couple of inches off the jack.
That bowl proved critical as the duo, alongside New Zealand’s Tayla Bruce, went on to ease to the title, winning the semi-final 19-8 and final 16-6.
Olivia Cartwright took out the women’s triples alongside Lisa Phillips and Tayla Bruce.
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The last final Cartwright played was in the women’s singles, entering it already having three of the four events under her belt and being set up for a date with destiny.
Cartwright admitted to a mental pressure easing in with the record in sight, amplified by much chatter throughout the week that she would be taking out the Barb Gilbert.
“After I won my singles semi-final I called Dad and did a bit of a debrief and he goes, ‘you know Liv’, and I was like, ‘yes Dad, if I win this, I'm undefeated, I've got all the records and I will be Barb Gil’, but he goes, ‘yes, but also you will create history’," Cartwright said.
“I didn't know that it was history, I had no idea what the backlog of the results were throughout this event, so I got a bit goose-bumpy in that moment, I was like, ‘wow, this could become something special’."
Similarly to the mixed final, the singles decider was well-contested, as Cartwright only separated herself from Ocean Grove’s Hayley O'Reilly on the last four ends.
Cartwright noted how she remained present throughout each one of her events, taking each match end-by-end, which aided her in coming from 15-13 down against O’Reilly to win 21-15 and make history.
“It hasn't sunk in yet, obviously, a little bit straight back into reality, so I've been fortunate enough that I've actually been able to have some time to reflect,” Cartwright said.
“I don't think I've fully gotten used to ‘history maker’ being next to my name, it just doesn't sound real.”
Cartwright will have the opportunity to add to this impressive feat shortly, playing at the Victorian State Championships in Bendigo from April 14 to 22, where she will compete in the mixed pairs, women’s fours and the women’s pairs.
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