Liam Boudin

BIOGRAPHY

Liam Boudin, 28, has patiently waited over two decades before making his Australian team debut. He has been named to wear the green and gold in the marathon at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo. He believes, due to not making a junior national team, he has taken a less conventional path to representing Australia.

After a 10th and 11th as a junior in the Zatopek de Castella U20 3000m race in 2015 and 2016, over the next four years Liam would steadily improve his 5000m PB from high 14 to low 14 minutes. But in 2021, now aged 23, his PBs really started to fall with highlights being a 10k road time of 29:22 and half marathon time of 64:45. The significant progress continued in 2022 where he ran 63:38 then 63:02 in a half marathon, was 8th at Zatopek with 29:20.17, and a performance he regarded as one of his best ever results, winning the Bridge to Brisbane 10k in 28:52.

Unfortunately, from October 2021 until June 2023, he was managing osteitis pubis which was caused by straining an adductor. “I was managing it during that time, but it got to the point where it was too debilitating,” Liam recalled.

After some good track PBs in early 2023, for the next five months he did not compete. There were some bright performances in late 2023, setting Liam up for a fantastic 2024 campaign, largely on the road. In July on the Gold Coast he made an impressive marathon debut clocking 2:13.56, followed by an action packed five months including: a second marathon in Kobe 2:12.35, winning the Australian half marathon title, clocking 62:32 in a half, winning his second Bridge to Brisbane 10km race in 28:52 and placing sixth at Zatopek in a PB 28:49.49.

There was no stopping Liam now, and in February in Seville he clocked another terrific marathon time of 2:10.28 as he leapt to #16 Australia all-time. In May he ran 28:17 (#10 AUS all-time) in a road 10km in Tokyo and 61:40 (#16 AUS all-time) in a half in June in Launceston.

On May 9, Liam was selected in the Australian team for the Tokyo World Championships where he would run the marathon. His selection was subject to a quota position becoming available, which it did by June 2025.

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Liam started his athletics journey aged six in Little Athletics. “I loved running fast, so racing against other kids each week at my Little Athletics club was fun and exciting.” His Dad was heavily involved in running and triathlons, so his passion for running inspired him to take up the sport from an early age.

Liam describes himself as a hard worker and disciplined with his training, but was never quite good enough to bridge that gap to Australian representative level. He registered a couple of top-12 finishes in the Zatopek U20 3000m race and in 2015 was 3rd in the Australian U20 5000m championships. He also played cricket growing up. “Unfortunately, I was not very talented at other sports. I was also a late developer so was too small for football and contact sports.”

During his journey, a key to his progress has been “having a strong training group in Brisbane has helped immensely.”

Liam spoke fondly about the influence his Dad had on his running career.
“He was the reason I got into athletics. He was always the one to take me to training and races. He would often sleep in the car during my early morning sessions before taking me to school, and on his way to work. While Dad is no longer around, my motivation to make him proud is what gets me through challenging times.”

Sporting family: Grandmother’s brother played for Footscray AFL team; through marriage distantly related to Charles Brownlow (Brownlow Medal fame)…Hero: cricketer Adam Gilchrist. I thought the way he changed the game of cricket was inspiring…Education: Bachelor of Laws (Honours) at QUT, Brisbane. Graduated in 2020…Occupation: Solicitor…Hobbies: Baking and reading. I find both baking and reading to be therapeutic and a nice change to the business of work and training…Advice to your young self? Stay patient. I felt like, at times, I wanted success a little too much and had a tendency to over train – which my junior coaches would certainly agree with. I would tell my younger self not to sweat the small stuff or stress that every session has to be perfect…Other sports: cricket…Sporting ambition: ultimate goal it to compete at a home Olympics in Brisbane 2032 and also be considered as one of Australia’s best ever marathon runners.

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