Amy Cashin

A new name to many in the track and field world would be Victorian-born Amy Cashin who in May clocked an Olympic steeplechase qualifying time of 9:28.60 to rocket from number 10 to number five on the Australian all-time list. Amy's journey may have been hampered by some freak accidents, but four days after her 27th birthday, she will make her Olympic debut in Tokyo.

Gymnastics and running filled Amy's junior sporting years growing up in the Melbourne suburb of Werribee. A state-level gymnasts, Amy participated in the sport from age three to 12 and again from 14 to 18 as a supplement to her running. At 10, she started after school cross country and her PE teacher met her parents and suggested she take up athletics. She ran successfully in the steeplechase as a junior and at aged 14 in 2008 she won the Pacific School Games title in record time. 

In 2013 she was selected in the Australian team for the World Cross Country Championships where she competed in the U20 race. She was then off to college in West Virginia University where during 2013-14 she ran cross country and indoor track. But her 2014 season was cut short when she was concussed after a door shut on her head.

She ran indoor and outdoor track in 2015 with best times of 4:21 (1500m) and 10:44 (3000m steeplechase). There was good progress in 2016, now down to 10:11 in the steeplechase. In 2017 she ran 10:01 in her regional meet and qualified for her first NCAAs.

On the track in 2018 she was brilliant, smashing PBs across all her distances - 1500m, mile, 3000m, 5000m and steeplechase. She placed ninth in the 1500m at the NCAA Indoors and outdoors made it to the semi-finals where she ran a PB 9:58.75.

Shortly before the 2019 track season she suffered a serious concussion, after a medicine ball dropped on her head in the gym.

“I was laying down in the weight room with my head up slightly and had a medicine ball dropped on it before my head then slammed into the concrete underneath,” Amy said. 

After she recovered she ran a few 800m and 1500m races mid-year in 2019. Some early season performances in 2020 were very promising. She ran an 8:57 indoor 3000m on 28 February 2020, but within days the season was shut down due to COVID. Amy completed her Masters while waiting out COVID.

Amy commenced a Ph.D. in early 2021, focusing on coaches' mental health. In her first steeplechase since 2018 she ran 9:48, followed by PBs of 9:43.89 and her stunning 9:28.60 in June to book her ticket to the Tokyo Olympics.

At the Olympics, in the heat of Tokyo, Amy ran well to place 11th in the first round of the women's 3000m Steeplechase, clocking 9:34.67 minutes - the second fastest time of her career.

In 2022 Amy won a terrific Australian Championship race, then in June, a year after she set her PB and on the same track in Portland, she clocked a PB 9:27.91 to record a World Championships and Commonwealth Games qualifier.

One month on, at her World Championships debut, Amy went to a new level with an amazing 6.45 seconds PB time of 9:21.46. It was the fastest ever time by an Australian woman at the World Championships. Amy placed 17th overall, just missing qualifying for the final by 0.44 seconds. Two weeks later at the Commonwealth Games she was fifth in 9:35.63. She closed her year with eighth in Monaco in her Diamond League debut, clocking 9:24.19.

Back in Australia for the 2023 Nationals she placed third in a dramatic and close race. In August she was named in the Australian team for the World Championships. In Budapest Amy placed 8th in her heat, clocking 9:31.07.

Her push towards the Paris Olympics in 2024 included wins at the National Championships and Oceania Championships and an impressive 9:26.85 in Los Angeles.