In the morning session, race walker Katie Hayward lined up for the 10,000m walk final. The 17-year-old was part of Australia’s World Race Walking Team Championships in Tainan, China earlier this year but was disqualified 200m from the line.
She was in the lead group for the first half of the race but at the 6.5km mark Meryem Bekmez of Turkey made a move and the lead group was split. Hayward tried to respond but found herself 30m back and finished fifth in a personal best of 45:10.42.
“I focussed on the people in front so I could get faster and then go by them and try and hold on,” she told Athletics Australia.
Delighted race-walker Katie Hayward says her coach “is ecstatic” after her 5th-place finish in the 10,000m, in a time of 45:10.42 #Tampere2018 pic.twitter.com/EeBE0copGU
— Athletics Australia (@AthsAust) July 14, 2018
Only one another Australian female athlete has recorded a better place and time at the championships and that’s Jess Rothwell who came fourth in 2008 with 44:44.22.
The last event for the Australians in the morning session was the 4x400m relay heats as they qualified for the…
