Ramsden was born in New York when her father, Mark Ramsden, who had a career in foreign affairs for the New Zealand Government, was assigned to the United Nations. From the age of three, she was raised in Wellington, New Zealand. She studied at International Schools in Suva, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Addis Ababa. Maia began studying History and Literature, with a focus on the Pacific at Harvard University, in 2020. Her mother is called Margot and she has siblings called Griffyn and Isla.[3][4][5][1]
College career
Ramsden was U20 New Zealand national champion over 800m and 1500m distances in March 2020.[6]
Competing indoors in Boston in February 2023, she also ran a new personal best time of 4:30.19 for the mile, which placed her second on the all-time New Zealand women’s mile lists behind only Kim Smith, who ran 4:24.14 in 2008.[7]
Ramsden won the 1500m title at the 2023 NCAA Outdoors Championships, held in Austin, Texas in June 2023, in a then new personal best time of 4:08.60.[8] In doing so, she became the second New Zealander to win a track title at an outdoor NCAA Championships, and the sixth overall all-time female New Zealander at the distance.[9] She also became the first winner from Harvard in the event since 1986.[10]
In October 2023 Ramsden signed an NIL deal with On.[11]
Ramsden joined the Boulder, Colorado-based On Athletics Club in June 2024.[17] She competed in the 1500 metres at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris in August 2024, running a national record time of 4:02.20.[18]
