Jemima Montag (athletics) has made sharp progress since becoming a two-time Commonwealth Games champion in Birmingham, where she added the women’s 10,000m track title to her 20km road title on the Gold Coast in 2018.

At the 2023 world championships in Budapest, she shaved 11 seconds off her national record (1:27:16) to win silver, the first Australian women’s race walker to finish on the podium at the world titles since Kerry Saxby-Junna in 1999. It was also her maiden global medal since her world championships debut in Doha in 2019 (10th), followed by sixth at the Tokyo Olympics and fourth at the Eugene 2022 world championships.

Then in 2024, Jemima became a dual Olympic medallist, winning bronze in both the 20km individual and mixed marathon relay with Rhydian Cowley at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. She was the first Australian woman to win two medals in athletics at the same Games since Raelene Boyle in 1972.

The Brett Vallance-coached Victorian Institute of Sport athlete also claimed her sixth consecutive 20km national title in February 2025.

After completing a science degree in 2020, Jemima commenced a five-year medical degree at the University of Melbourne in 2022. She credits her late grandparents – who were holocaust survivors – for her work ethic and resilience and wears a gold bracelet from one of her grandmother’s necklaces as a lucky charm.