Ky Robinson

After a solid but unspectacular junior athletics career in Australia, Ky Robinson went on to compile a very impressive college career, highlighted by a NCAA 5/10 win, while studying at Stanford. However, his last 18 months since graduating from college have seen him develop into the finest long distance runner in modern Australian history. Highlights have included a World Indoor medal, 4th at the world championships, smashing the Australian 5000m and 10,000m records and two top-25 world cross country finishes.

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Growing up Ky Robinson was involved in many sports, this included playing football at school – Anglican Church Grammar School (Churchie) in Brisbane. “I started training competitively in cross country and track and field in grade 10 when I had an old-boy coach come into my school to coach our team.” He pretty quickly established himself nationally in athletics. At the 2018 Australian Schools Cross Country Championships, Ky 16, was the third Australian in the U18 6km event, a few seconds behind Jude Thomas.

The next year, in January 2019, he placed 8th in the junior cross country trials for the World Cross Country Championships. On the track in April he placed third in the National U18 1500m and was sixth in the 3000m. At the end of the year he was second in the junior 3000m at Zatopek in a quick time of 8:22.00. There were some other promising performances during the year including 14:32 in the 5000m and 5:59 in a 2000m steeplechase.

In 2020 while he waited confirmation of a scholarship at a US college, he coached at his former school Churchie. In June he accepted a scholarship to Stanford University, but due to COVID he did not travel to the US until early 2021.

In his first track race for Stanford in April 2021, the now 19-year-old, sliced 41 seconds off his 5000m PB clocking 13:51. It was a trend that continued all summer. Over 3000m, he took 10 seconds off his PB clocking 8:12. In the 3000m steeplechase he was outstanding, clocking five PBs, taking his best from 9:04 to 8:32. He also destroyed the Australian U20 record which had stood for 29 years, breaking it on three occasions. He made the NCAA final placing sixth.

However, his progress was not without incident. In his second 3000m Steeplechase race on May 15 in Los Angeles, his trail leg clipped a barrier and he fell. As a Washington runner was stepping over him, he dragged his spikes across Ky’s face.

“I didn’t realize how bad it was immediately,” Ky told Runner’s World. “I felt my face, my lip, I looked down and saw the blood.” He had assumed it was a cut lip. He finished the race in a 4-seconds PB of 8:41.81.

Late in 2021, Ky placed a terrific 14th in the NCAA Cross Country.

In his 2022 campaign Ky just got better and better, concentrating now on the 5000m. Indoors over 3000m he ran 7:50 and over 5000m 13:20.17 which won silver in the NCAA Indoor Championships. Outdoors, he placed fourth in the NCAA 5000m and clocked 27:47.11 on debut in the 10,000m He continued to dabble in the steeplechase running a best of 8:33.91, earning big points for his schools at the Pac-12 regional. But his plan for his collegiate career was now to concentrate on the 5000m and 10,000m events.

In June 2022 he was named in the Australian team for the Commonwealth Games, selected in the 5000m and 10,000m and in July selected for the World Championships in the 5000m.

On debut for Australia in the 5000m at the 2022 World Championships, Ky was brilliant, placing 8th in his heat in a time of 13:27.03. He missed qualification for the final by less than three seconds. Two weeks later at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games he ran just the 10,000m clocking a PB time of 27:44.33 for a brilliant sixth place. This time was the best by an Australian ever at the Commonwealth Games, Olympics or World Championships. The time would have won nine of the last 10 titles. It was also the highest placing by an Aussie in the event for 24 years.

Alongside his track performances, he had been progressing in cross country, 46th at the 2020 NCAAs, he was up to 14th in 2021 and then 10th in November 2022.

In January 2023 he opted to run indoors rather than return to Australia for the trials for the World Cross Country Championships but was still selected on discretion. In Bathurst he placed a brilliant 23rd – first Aussie across the line. Mid-year he became the first athlete in seven years to claim the NCAA 5000/10000m double. He closed the year with third in the NCAA XC.

In 2024 he won bronze in the NCAA 5000m indoors and outdoors and lowered his PBs to 13:06.42 (indoors) and 13:15.61, but would ultimately miss the Paris Olympics.  After graduating from college in 2024 he joined the On Squad in Boulder Colorado where he trains under coach Dathan Ritzenhein.

Over the next 18 months, (2025 until mid-2026), Ky Robinson has developed into the finest long-distance runner in modern Australian history. Early in 2025 he lowered the Australian u=indoor 3000m record, then won a 3000m bronze medal at the World Indoors. During the year he ran three 5000m PBs (13:13, 13:05, 12:58.38) to move to #3 Australian all-time. At the Tokyo World Championships he delivered a stunning 4th place in the 5000m. The superlatives on the performance were:

-Missed the podium by 0.28 seconds

-Missed the gold medal by 1.31 seconds

-Second best performance by an Australian male in distance on the track in our 42-year history at the world championships

The momentum continued in 2026, when in January he placed 24th at the world cross country championships. In February he set the Australian 2-mile indoor best, then in March claimed the Australian 10,000m record. Superlatives were: 47 seconds PB and sliced 12 seconds from the AUS record.

In June in Oslo, in his next race, he broke the Australian 5000m record held by Craig Mottram clocking 12:50.82.

Superlatives were:

-took 4.94 seconds off the old record

-7.56 seconds PB

-Breaks 22-year-old Australian record

-breaks oldest Australian distance record (Olympic events)

-now holds Australian 5000m and 10,000m record simultaneously, first athlete for 30 years to achieve this

-5000m/10,000m record holder simultaneously held: Ron Clarke held both records for 34 consecutive years. Others to hold both Allan Lawrence, Dave Power & Les Perry

-First Queenslander to hold this record

-No 17 Commonwealth all-time list, behind 14 Africans, 1 Canadian and 1 British

-Roughly, Ky is the 19th Australian to set a National record at the Bislett Games Oslo, list below

In June, he was selected to run the 5000m and 10.000m at his second Commonwealth Games.

Start in athletics: “Started properly training for athletics when I was 15 after my high school brought in an old boy coach (Jack Curran) who saw potential in me and forced me into training and racing.”…Education: Management Science and Engineering at Stanford, graduated in 2024…About his Progression: “I would say that the main reason that I was able to achieve this progression was the people that I was able to train with every day and the coaching that we were receiving. Being able to train with other talented guys my age and to be pushed by them every day has allowed for us to all develop significantly in the past two years that we have been together.”…Hero: The people that I look up to most are my coaches and my current teammates. I owe where I am today to my coaches for being able to develop me into the athlete that I am and having them pave the way for me to be successful is something that I look up to them on. And as for my teammates, every day these guys inspire me with their resilient work ethic to better themselves and the guys around them to become better athletes and teammates.

@ 3 July 2026 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au