Kiara Reddingius

Fast Facts

Sport: Bobsleigh
Event: Two-woman
Olympic History: Beijing 2022
Highlights: 16th in two-woman Bobsleigh at Beijing 2022
Coach: Zsolt Zsombor
Year Born: 1992
State Born: Western Australia

About Kiara

Kiara Reddingius, with her teammate Bree Walker, landed herself a long desired Olympic debut after two top-10 finishes in World Cup races in December 2021 and January 2022.

Those performances, both at Winterberg in Germany, followed three top-20 finishes at Innsbruck, Altenberg and Sigulda.

It was a sensational start in Bobsled for this former top-level heptathlete, who earned a silver medal at three consecutive Australian Athletics Championships in the gruelling seven-event competition.

Her pursuit of glory in track and field has led Kiara to a wide variety of employment to fund her passion.

She grew up in the remote Western Australian goldfields town of Leonora, and returned to work in the Kalgoorlie mines during breaks in university studies. Working the 13 days on, one day off routine for a couple of months provided some of the financial support needed to live in Perth.

Kiara also did track work, exercising race horses, while she finished her studies. She is also a high school relief teacher filling contracts for women on maternity leave.

While the pandemic played havoc with competition and training schedules, Kiara kept herself fit.

A late bloomer to Athletics, at age 21, she transitioned to winter sports and Bobsleigh at 29. Kiara made her debut for Australia partnering Ashleigh Werner at the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation World Cup in November 2021 and finished 19th at Innsbruck.

At Beijing 2022 Kiara and Bree combined to finish 16th in the two-woman bobsleigh. The pair ended up less than half a second outside the top 10 and were just short of Australia's best ever result in the discipline (14th), set by Astrid Loch-Wilkinson and Kylie Reed at Torino 2006.

Kiara and Bree were a relatively inexperienced combination, as their Beijing 2022 performance was only their fourth race together.

She has a Bachelor of Science in conservation and wildlife biology, a Minor in mathematical modelling, and a Graduate Diploma in secondary maths/science teaching.