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BIOGRAPHYOver the last three years Adelaide race walker Olivia Sandery has made significant progress and competed successfully internationally. In her Australian team debut at the 2022 World Race Walking Teams Championship she placed fifth in the U20 10km walk and claimed a team silver medal with her Australian teammates. In August she placed an outstanding fourth at the World U20 Championships. It was the equal second best place by an Aussie in the event, only bettered 30 years earlier by Jane Saville. In 2023, now a senior athlete she stepped up to the 20km walk and in just her fourth race over the distance she clocked 1:28.52 – moving to number four fastest in Australian history. Over the summer she smashed all her PBs on the track and won the National 10,000m walk title. + + + + + Oliva had good early success in both running and race walking. “When I was seven, my sister wanted to try out Little Athletics so my parents brought us both out to have a go. I began race walking there as an Under 8 but preferred the running events over the walk. However, in 2016, I made the U13 ALAC team in the 1500m walk and the 1500m run and started to enjoy race walking more as I began training for it.” In her late teens she was progressing well. In March 2021 she won the national U20 10,000m walk title in 47:03.55, but in the 10 months since has sliced nearly two minutes off that mark to record 45:24.1 in January 2022. She was now the third fastest Australian junior ever. On the roads, in February she won the Australian Race Walking Teams Championships trial for the U20 10km walk, stamping her ticket for an international debut. In March at the World Race Walking Teams Championships in the heat of Muscat in Oman, Olivia was magnificent placing fifth, the equal highest ever place by an Australian in the junior men’s or women’s race. She combined with her teammates to win silver in the team event – Australia’s best ever result in U20 women’s race. In late March, on the track at the Australian Championships, she defended her National U20 title in a time of 45:28.96, just four seconds outside her PB. The win booked her ticket to a second world championships for Olivia the World U20s in Cali, Columbia in August where she placed an outstanding fourth. With a view to the future, in May Olivia made her 20km walk debut, clocking a magnificent 1:34.35, to rank her as the second fastest Australian junior of all-time. In 2022 Olivia explained her recent progress. “Over the past two years, I have been more consistent and specific with all components of my training which has definitely led to some major improvements. I have also had the opportunity to train with some of Australia’s best race walkers and coaches which has taught me a lot.”
Influences: My first coach, Bob Cruise, has been very influential in my athletic career so far. He taught me the majority of what I know about race walking and has always been extremely supportive of me. He is also someone that I admire because of his dedication towards the sport, as well as his endless list of achievements.....Challenges faced: The biggest challenge I have faced has come in the past year since finishing school. It has sometimes been a struggle balancing university, training, work and social commitments and I have often had to make sacrifices to fit things in…..Hero: In sport, I look up to the likes of Allyson Felix and Simone Biles who have shown great resilience in overcoming adversity and challenges within their sport…..Advice to your young self? Have fun with sport when you’re young and don’t take it too seriously because I’ve learnt that you don’t need to be the best when you’re young to be successful now. @ August 2023 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au World Athletics Profile https://worldathletics.org/athletes/australia/olivia-sandery-14815270
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