Alexandra Griffin

BIOGRAPHY

Alexandra Griffin has been race walking for a decade, but in the last 12 months, now under the coaching of Jared Tallent, she has worn the Australian green and gold on four occasions. Her most recent team is the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo where she will compete in the 35km Walk.

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Alexandra Griffin was a sporty child. “I started Little Athletics at 7 years old. It was one of many activities I tried alongside dance and music and a million other sports because my parents really encouraged me to give everything a go.”

But it would be athletics she would pursue. “It was obvious early on that I wasn’t destined for throwing or sprinting, I found a real love and natural ability for long-distance events.”

She started running laps of the block before finding a coach. Alexandra eventually tried race walking “I had no clue what the technique was but once I figured it out, and combined that with my fitness from running, I started to pick it up very quickly.”

By age 10 she was winning State titles.

In her late teens she met her now coach Jared Tallent at a training camp and asked him to coach her.

“In my final U20 year I had the honour of representing Australia at the World U20 Championships and the World Race Walking Team Championships.” In Lima in 2024 at the World U20s, Alexandra placed a brilliant 5th in a time of 45:10.26. It was her fourth PB of the year and she had taken over two minutes from her PB. She was now Australia’s third fastest in U20 history.

In 2025. entering her first senior year, Alexandra moved up the distance quickly, transitioning from the 20km to 35km race walk.

Her 2025 campaign has been of the highest standard. It started with an excellent 1:32.43 20km Walk at the Australian Championships where she placed 6th. A month later in March, while still in her teens, Alexandra embarked on her first 35km race. Competing in Nomi in Japan she clocked 2:51.54, finishing 6th. In July she was 8th in the 20k walk at the World University Games in Germany.

Memorable sporting achievement: Winning my first national title was a pretty good day. It was the start of me realising I could go somewhere with this and the beginning of this journey so it’s an important one to me. Since then, representing my country is an easy one…Hero: There are a few people I’d call heroes in different ways. In sport, my coach Jared Tallent is a huge influence—his achievements as an athlete and his wisdom as a coach make him such a valuable person to have in my corner. I also deeply admire my family and their support and the way they’ve embraced my journey means everything to me…Most influential person in career: My dad has had a massive influence on my sporting journey. He loved athletics as a kid, and his passion really shaped my early involvement in the sport. He was my first coach, and to this day, he’s still one of my biggest supporters training with me and pacing me on the bike, giving me gels and water. His encouragement and belief in me played a huge role in where I am now…Advice to your young self: Don’t forget to enjoy it! It’s easy to fall in love with winning and lose sight of all the other things that make the journey really fun. When you take the pressure off results, there’s so much more to appreciate in the process. Find joy in the little things, the training, the travel, the community, and the progress, and the journey gets a lot more fun…Hobbies: Music has always been a massive part of my life. I grew up playing the violin and singing, and over the years I’ve been part of various bands and orchestras and it’s a passion I’ll keep with me for a long time…Sporting ambition: To discover the full extent of what I’m capable of. I’m not sure where that limit is yet but I’ve got time to figure that out, but my goal is to build a sporting career with consistency, performance, and fun. Making the Olympics is a big one but I’m yet to figure out what sits beyond that…Education: Studying Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Western Australia…Biggest challenge faced:
I’m fortunate not to have faced many major setbacks, but one defining moment came when many of my peers started stepping away from sport. It felt like the culture around me shifted, and continuing to pursue my ambitions meant going against that current which made me question if it was still something I wanted. It was challenging to stay committed when others were moving on, but I think that’s something a lot of athletes, especially young women, can relate to but it made me more certain that this is something I am passionate about.

@ 10 Sept 2025 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au