Alanah's Story
The qualification and ultimate Olympic selection of WA athlete Alanah Yukich in 2024 is a remarkable story determination. A week before the qualification deadline for the Olympics, Alanah competed in the 400m hurdles in three countries over three days, clocking three sub-56 second times, a level she had not achieved once a month earlier.
Alanah Yukich grew up in regional Western Australian, initially in Giggin and later Swan Valley, north of Perth. She started her journey in athletics, aged 13 at Swan Valley High School.
“Coming from a country background I always remember my mother saying not to expect much when I started at a larger high school but found a quick success at the high school athletics day.”
An emerging talented sprinter/hurdler, she even tried the demanding 400m hurdles when she was aged 14, clocking 68 seconds. She recalls a national title 14 months later as her first major success.
“I had my first success as a junior by winning the Australian under-17 400m hurdles, an event that I quickly fell in love with.” That was in 2014 and two years later she would made her Australian debut.
“In 2016 I won my second national title and qualified for my first Australian team for the World Under 20 Championships in Poland.” At the World Juniors she progressed to the semi-final where she ran a personal best of 59.20.
Over the next few years she continued to progress in the 400m and 400m hurdles but admits “I had a hard time transitioning from a junior to senior.”
Four years after she graduated from high school, in 2019 she took up a scholarship in America at the University of Texas in San Antonio where she would study an undergraduate degree in business with a minor and psychology and complete a masters in business.
In her first season in America she raced indoors in a few 400s before the pandemic hit. But in early 2021 she was back racing and setting impressive times in the 400m and both hurdle distances. In mid-2023 she closed her college career with PBs of 54.19 (400),13.65 (100H) and 57.00 (400H) and started working fulltime at the Platero Creative Group, an Architectural design company in Texas.
She also started training with Rose Monday in Texas and after a winter of training in early 2024 started to run some impressive times in America. Concentrating on the 400m and 400m hurdles she ran a series of PBs, down to 52.53 and 56.95 respectively.
Returning to Australia for the National Championships and Olympic trials she opted for the flat 400m.
She would in May at the World Relays anchor the National 4x400m team to very close qualification for the Olympics.
Back in Texas she immediately switched focus to the 400m hurdles clocking four consecutive PBs, including a one second jump from 56.62 to 55.67. In a rush to accumulate World Athletics points or hit the Olympic standard she raced five times in two weeks on three continents including three races in three different countries over three days.
Her remarkable series of races were:
6 June - 55.67 PB in Atlanta, Georgia
16 June - 55.33 PB in Nassau, Bahamas
21 June – 55.15 PB Madrid, Spain
22 June - 55.94 Geneva, Switzerland
23 June – 55.40 Pozan, Poland
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