Natalya Vassilievna Smirnitskaya (Russian: Наталья Васильевна Смирницкая-Дятлова; née Dyatlova; 8 September 1927 – 2004) was a Soviet track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw.

Born in Ordzhonikidze (now Vladikavkaz) and raised in Pyatigorsk, at the age of fourteen she met Viktor Alexeyev – a national champion in javelin throwing – who had been evacuated there due to World War II.

Smirnitskaya was the first of Alexeyev's charges to achieve international success and he went on to train many other athletes, including Olympic shot put champions Galina Zybina and Tamara Tyshkevich.

She began by breaking the women's javelin throw world record that July, achieving a distance of 49.59 m (162 ft 8+1⁄4 in) to add nearly a metre on to Austria's Herma Bauma former mark.

[2] An international title followed at the World Festival of Youth and Students, where she set a meet record of 51.10 m (167 ft 7+3⁄4 in) to win the gold medal some five metres ahead of runner-up Aleksandra Chudina.

[3] The 1950 European Athletics Championships was her first open class, top level competition and she demonstrated her position as the world's best thrower by winning with three metres to spare over minor medallists Herma Bauma and Galina Zybina.