Georgia's Story
Fast Facts
Sport: Athletics
Event: 3,000m Steeplechase
Olympic History: Tokyo 2020
Club: UTS Norths
Year Born: 1997
State Born: NSW
About Georgia
Georgia Winkcup was encouraged to start athletics very young by her former world record holding grandmother Betty Moore.
“I started athletics when I was in the under 8s at the Cherrybrook Little Athletics because my grandma had been a fantastic hurdler when she was younger and encouraged my cousins, brothers and I, to give it a go,” she said.
Initially a distance runner, in her teens she started steeplechasing under her then coach Ross Forster. She enjoyed the event and had some success winning the Australian All Schools U18 2000m steeple in 2013. Three years later she was a finalist in the 3000m steeple at the World Junior Championships, as she was settling into her busy study program (Arts/Law) and part-time work as a paralegal.
She suffered a few injuries and there was no progress for a few years, although she was still building and continuing to race and train.
In late summer 2019 there were glimpses of progress at the Australian Uni Games where she ran her then second fastest steeplechase (10:18) followed 10 minutes later by an 800m PB. Then in June in Townsville at the Oceania Championships she destroyed her previous PB by 29 seconds, clocking 9:46.51 and placing a close second. She rates it as her ‘most memorable sporting achievement’ to-date.
“From that moment my planned holiday and Contiki trip through Europe was changed a little as I was able to get on the start lists for a few international races, something which I had never expected when my season ended in April.”
Three weeks later she ran another PB (9:45.98) in Belgium, then two weeks later in Birmingham amazingly she sliced another eight seconds from her PB to clock 9:37.43, achieving a qualifying standard for the 2019 World Championships. In Doha, she ran 9:50.31 in the World Championships heats.
Post the World Championships, she had an ITB knee problem and didn’t race the next summer until March 2020, then within days COVID cancelled the season. Through 2020 she was hampered for a year with plantar fascia issues, with it eventually tearing at the 2021 national championships at the first steeplechase jump.
“Fortunately this was the best thing for her and after about two weeks she was able to start running consistently again which she hadn’t been able to do for the previous 12 months,” said her coach and physiotherapist, Ben Liddy.
In June she resumed racing in Queensland clocking 9:57, then 9:39.27. Back in Sydney she ran two more races clocking 9:40.25 and 9:46.03 in wet conditions.
Georgia received a late invitation for the Tokyo Olympics to race in the 3000m steeplechase - placing 13th in her heat in a time of 9:59.29.
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