BIOGRAPHY
From her early teens, Torrie Lewis has been setting records and winning National titles. After an injury last year, which forced her to withdraw from the 2022 World U20 Championships, she won the 2023 National Open sprint double in April and now at 18 she will be the youngest female athlete on the Australian team for the World Championships in Budapest.
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Torrie’s sporting journey started aged 5 with gymnastics as the focus and athletics just on the side.
“Once I quit gymnastics, I was looking for another sport to do and as I was already good at running (had done athletics through school and made it to State without training) I decided to focus my time more on athletics. I’d been running through the school system since I was 8 but only started seeing athletics as my sport when I was 11.”
In school athletics competitions, in NSW (Newcastle area) she make it to State and into the finals, but as she described it placed ‘middle of the pack’. At 12, she started training by correspondence with coach Gerrard Keating and within a year (in 2018 aged 13), started winning State and National titles, by). By age 14 she had already clocked swift times of 11.91 and 24.34.
In early 2020 she moved to Brisbane when her mum was offered a job there.
“The whole of 2020 I trained by myself after school with the programs Gerrard would send through.”
2020, the first year of the pandemic, was difficult for everybody, but Torrie thrived.
“In my first race in Brisbane as a 15-year-old, I raced Riley Day in the 100m and won! That gave me the confidence and motivation to continue training by myself through correspondence (as Gerrard was still in NSW).”
Six weeks after that first race, she broke the Australian U16 record, clocking 11.57. Over 200m she had now run 23.51. In 2021, her coach Gerrad Keating, and some training partners Grace Hewitt and Keira McGregor also moved to Brisbane.
Mid-pandemic, over the summer of 2021, she won the National U17 sprint double. Her 200m was a super quick 23.38.
Over the summer of 2021/22, aged 16/17, Torrie was now running on the National senior relay team and in March they clocked 43.15 – the third fastest time in Australian history. Individually she smashed her PBs, clocking 11.33 in the 100m, twice 23.18 for 200m and 53.78 in the 400m. She won the National junior sprint double, by passing the opens so she could attend her school year 12 ‘formal’ in April 2022.
Selected for the World U20 Championships in 2022, nine days before she was due to depart, she tore her hamstring.
“I felt I was in the fastest shape I had ever been in.”
She opened her 2023 season with a few handicap races on grass in Tasmania in December 2022/January.
“My hamstring stood the tough test of the gift races and I knew it was ready.”
She opened with a PB 400m of 53.36 in January and March/April clocked times of 11.23 and 23.02. At 18, she won the National sprint double - the second youngest female to ever achieve this. At the end of summer, she moved coaches to Andrew Iselin who also coaches Calab Law.
Some solid racing in Europe saw her clock near PB times of 11.27 and 23.07 ahead of her Australian team debut at the Budapest world championships.
Injury: “I tore my hamstring 9 days before we were leaving for the World U20 Championships. (July 2022). Although, I was devastated by the news as I felt I was in the fastest shape I had ever been in, my body was obviously telling me that it needed something more. That something more was gym as I had never really had a gym program before this and just did physio exercises about once a week for 30 minutes. So this injury forced me to start from the beginning in terms of block work, running technique and gym strength. My progress in terms of training load have been slowly increasing as I get older and now with strength from gym and an appreciation for being healthy. (Jan 2023)…Her Post injury determination: “ I have the grit to be extremely competitive this year.” Advice to your young self: Go slowly and always keep your long-term goals in the back of your mind. Is it better to kill yourself training at 11 to win nationals or go slowly and develop properly to someday be in an Olympic final?...Hobbies: animals, history and learning new things…Education: Year 12 at St Peter’s Lutheran college in 2022. Deferred a software engineering degree at Griffith University until 2024. In 2023 teaching herself to code… Biggest challenge faced: Tearing hamstring 9 days before leaving for World Juniors… Enjoyment of competing: I prefer training to competition but my favourite part of competition is either overtaking someone or when you are neck and neck with someone and can see them out the corner of your eye and being able to get slightly in front. So basically, I enjoy the pure racing components of competition…Family & heritage: “When my mum was 16, she moved from Switzerland to England and lived by herself. And when I was 6, my mum and I moved to Australia without ever visiting or knowing anybody in Australia.” Torrie was born in England with her heritage being Jamaican/Indian from her dad and Scottish from her mother. In 2019 she said: “I’ve never been to Jamaica, but when I was younger they joked about me running for Jamaica.” She is a fan of Jamaican greats - Elaine Thompson and Shelly Anne Fraser-Pryce.
@ August 2023 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au
World Athletics Profile https://worldathletics.org/athletes/australia/torrie-lewis-14778459
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