Katie Hayward (athletics) made her Commonwealth Games debut in Birmingham in 2022 where she finished seventh in the women’s 10,000m race walk which returned to the program for the first time in 28 years.

Katie grew up on the Gold Coast and was regularly piggybacked by her father when she was a toddler, because she hated walking. As a 10-year-old, Katie was mesmerised by race walking at Gold Coast Little Athletics. Not even realising it was a sport, Hayward chose to join the race. And she won.

Katie made her international debut at the World Race Walking Cup in China in May 2018 and also competed at the world under-20 championships in Finland where she finished 5th in the 10,000m walk. 2019 proved a breakthrough year: In January, she made her 20km walk debut in Adelaide where she clocked a stunning 1:29:25, the fastest time ever by an Australian on home soil. Five weeks later she produced a similar 1:29:31 in Japan. In April she won the national 10,000m title (43:20.65) before winning gold in the 20km at the Naples World University Games in 1:33:30. She also competed at the world championships in Doha where she was disqualified in stifling heat.

Finding a 10,000m win and PB at the 2021 Australian Championships (43:46.05) and posting some strong second-placed results behind her idol and teammate Jemima Montag, Katie qualified for her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 – training twice weekly at Griffith University’s exercise lab in preparation for the Sapporo heat – and crossed the finish line in 37th place in 1:38:11.

Off the track, Hayward studies occupational therapy at Griffith University.