When middle distance runner Lucas Chis was 14, sport wasn’t part of his life.
It wasn’t until a teacher at Waverley Christian College in Melbourne, Victoria’s Southeast suggested he give athletics a go at a school competition that he even thought about athletics.
That suggestion by his teacher changed everything for Chis, who recently turned 18.
“I immediately declined and said I wanted no part of it, but my Mum in secret signed me up for all the running events from the 400m to the 300m,” he told Australian Athletics.
“Without any training, or even knowing what spikes were, I was able to place third in both the 1500m and the 800m.
“That’s pretty much how my running career began.”
The rest as they say is history.
Chis (VIC, Ben St Lawrence) has been selected to represent Australia in the 5000m at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, next month in the United States.
He is part of a cracking field in both the men’s and women’s middle and distance running fields on the Australian team set to run at the famous track at Hayward Field.
Growing up athletics was the last thing on Chis, a naturally gifted athlete’s, mind.
“From roughly five to 12 years old, I only participated in soccer, going multiple days a week for training, even making it into some quite high level youth academies where things were starting to get serious,” he said.
“It sounds weird, but I got sick of winning.
“I recognised I wasn’t the best player on the team and we were constantly winning by huge margins with very little competition.
“So after I turned 12, I decided to do no sport at all, and with Covid hitting exactly at the same time it didn’t provide much help with any means of physical activity.”
Thankfully for the Australian athletics team, two years later his mother listened to the recommendation of his high school teacher and signed him up.
Chis will be joined in the 5000m with another Victorian, Charles Barrett (VIC, Charlotte Wilson).
Barrett will also compete in the 3000m in Eugene.
Unlike Chis, athletics has been a big part of Barrett’s sporting life, he started in Little Athletics at the age of six.
“I started largely because my Dad had done something similar when he was a kid in Western Australia, and he found it very beneficial for learning and developing physical skills,” he said.
It has been a steady rise to form for Barrett.
“From 2021 onwards I began to participate in Athletics Victoria events, joining a formal training squad and overall embarrassing athletics as my main sport,” he said.
“Since then each year I’ve made steady progress on my times over various distances, collecting a few junior national medals and starting to really mix it up with Australia’s best.”
Barrett said the most influential person in his rising young athletics career is his coach, Charlotte Wilson.
“Since I joined her early in 2002, I’ve only seen exponential progress in my running,” he said.
“Her methodology and approach to training allows for subtle flexibilities resulting in a consistent rise in my fitness and load with minimal injury risks.
“She has presented running in a very pragmatic way and has made my time under her extremely fun and rewarding.”
Both Chis and Barrett have huge goals when it comes to athletics.
“The pinnacle of athletics remains achieving an Olympic Gold Medal,” Barrett said.
“Whether I achieve such a feat or not is unknown, but it won’t stop me from constantly thinking about it.
“In the short term I just want to become consistently competitive at a professional level.’
Chris and Barrett will race on the first night of the World Athletics U20 Championships on Wednesday, August 5 in Oregon, in what hopefully will be a 5000m to remember.
By Luke Dennehy, Australian Athletics
Posted 13/7/2026
