HAYWARD STROLLING TOWARDS FINLAND
GOLD Coast teen Katie Hayward has all but secured her world junior championships ticket after walking into the record books at the Australian titles.
Hayward won the women’s under-20 10,000m race walk in a time of 45:48.45 on Friday, eclipsing the Australian junior championships record in Sydney by 27 seconds.
Her time was more than three minutes faster than Victorian runner up Phillipa Huse and easily cleared the world junior championships qualifier of 48:11.70.
While the Australian team for worlds in Finland from July 10-15 is yet to be announced, the 17-year-old’s selection is now a fait accompli.
“Although the northern hemisphere is yet to start their track season, this result also puts Katie at the top of world rankings for 10,000m track race walk with the three fastest times this year,” trainer Steve Langley said.
Hayward is also in line for the world race walking team championships in China on May 5-6.