Teen star wins gold at International Athletics Championship

A talented young athlete from Wellard has walked her way to international gold in Singapore. 14-year-old Kaytee Bogaers won gold in the 1500m racewalk at the International Athletics Championships last month. Bogaers took to racewalking when she was three after joining her older sister’s athletics training sessions. “I was at my sister’s training because she was already old enough to do it and one day I just joined in and I got it straight away,” she said. “I started training when I was just five and haven’t stopped since.” She competed in her first national competition in 2019, where she also walked away with gold, which she says was a ‘major starting’ point for her sporting career. State championship wins in the under 15s 1500m racewalk, under 16s 3000m racewalk and under 18s 5000m racewalk qualified her for the Singapore meet. “It was so amazing to be given the opportunity to compete in Singapore and I was very thankful that I had so much support behind me,” the Rockingham Little Athletics Club member said. “I knew my chances were good, but there were a lot of amazing athletes and it was a great experience getting the chance to compete on an international level. “My favourite part about racewalking is how unique it is, it’s not similar to anything ... I like seeing my results and all the hard work that goes into it.” Bogaers said the best advice she could give to other young athletes was to “keep with it” and “don’t ever give up”. “It may seem like it’s not worth it now, but once you get to the top of that it’s going to be great. You just have to be patient and keep going,” she said. Her next major competition is the All Schools Championship in Perth later this year.