Run With It

If you want a story of drive, grit and determination, this episode with Kate Smyth is for you.  Kate represented Australia in the marathon at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and the Commonwealth Games in 2006. We talk about all the hurdles she had to overcome to qualify for those teams, and why she persevered when so many people told her to give up. We discuss why outcome-focused goals don’t always s...

Liam Adams is running the marathon in Paris this weekend! We spoke while he was training in Flagstaff, Arizona, surviving dodgy motel accommodation and encounters with wild animals. We talk about his rocky road to Australian team selection, what training has looked like recently, his goals for Paris, and the challenges of being unsponsored while running at the highest level.  Liam is an Australian...

Fancy getting a ticket to Paris at 22? Adam Spencer has done it! Adam is an Australian middle-distance runner, currently studying at college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US. The 22-year-old is set to line up for his maiden Games experience, running the 1500m for Australia in what’s set to be one of the most anticipated events of the whole calendar. In this conversation, we talk ab...

Ever wondered who’s behind the scenes supporting our athletes to peak for the biggest races of their lives? This week we get a back-office perspective of high performance sport with sports scientist Avish Sharma.  Avish dials in from an altitude training camp in St Moritz, Switzerland where he’s been supporting our Australian athletes in their preparations for Paris. We talk about how hills, heat...

When Australian runner Izzi Batt-Doyle didn’t get selected in the marathon team for Paris, she didn’t give up on her Olympic hopes. Instead, she turned her attention to running fast on the track, clocking 14:49.75 over 5,000m in Liège, Belgium, to claim her spot on the team. That clutch performance just 11 days before the qualifying period closed put Izzi in the record books as fourth fastest Aust...

Athletics was thrust into the mainstream media off the back of the women’s Australian marathon team selection for the Paris Olympics. Athletics isn’t accustomed to this kind of attention, and often gets swallowed up by other sports in the news cycle. The secret sauce this time? Controversy. Zachary Gates , Olympic and Paralympic Games Reporter with Nine’s Wide World of Sports, is the journalist wh...