Katie’s primed
A STRONG showing in Adelaide tomorrow should ensure that Gold Coast racewalker Katie Hayward makes national teams for two big overseas events this year.
Hayward, only 17, is contesting the Australian 10,000m junior (under-20s) event which is also doubling up as the Oceania championship.
The winner gains an automatic trip to the Junior World Cup meet in China in May, although Hayward, as a multiple-title winner with times well below the qualifying standard, looks a safe bet for that trip.
Then there is the world junior titles in Finland, and the Australian junior titles in Sydney next month will sort out the qualifiers.
“If Katie wins in Adelaide on Sunday she gets automatic selection,” coach Steve Langley said.
“But if she doesn’t win it then goes down to times and the selectors’ discretion.
“She has already achieved qualifying times, the most recent in Canberra last month so she should be right for those two overseas trips.”
As promising a walker as Hayward is, she will not have a crack at selection for the Commonwealth Games in April.
“The Games race is over 20 kilometres and she’s just not ready for that yet,” Langley said.
It was in December, also in Adelaide, that Hayward won the under-18 women’s 5000m race when she beat home all her rivals. Since then the Coast teen has been in camp at the AIS in Canberra.