Amy Cashin

BIOGRAPHY

US-based Victorian Amy Cashin was a new name to many in the Australian track and field ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. In May 2021 she clocked an Olympic 3000m steeplechase qualifying time of 9:28.60 to rocket from number 10 to five on the Australian all-time list. Cashin’s journey may have been hampered by some freak accidents, but four days after her 27th birthday, she made her Olympic debut in Tokyo where she ran 9:34.67 in the heats – her second fastest ever time.

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 Oz 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.

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Gymnastics and running filled Amy Cashin’s junior sporting years growing up in the Melbourne suburb of Werribee. A state-level gymnasts, Cashin 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. “But growing pains and injury derailed my steeplechase career,” she recalled.

In 2013 she was selected in the Australian team for the World Cross Country Championships where she competed in the under-20 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 when 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 and completing her undergraduate degree in Sport and Exercise Psychology, with minors in Psychology and Athletic Coaching.

She still had one more year of eligibility in 2018 and commenced a masters degree in Clinical and Mental Health Counselling.

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.

For the next three years she seemed to disappear from the steeplechase. Before the 2019 track season she suffered a serious concussion. “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.” 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. She waited out COVID in Australia where she completed her Masters degree.

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.

The post college breakthrough is no great surprise to herself.

“I had strong results as a junior and was able to represent Australia at the World Junior Cross Country Championships. I had some success in college however was also dealing with injuries due to my biomechanics and bad luck. We knew if I was to stay healthy and get in some solid training that I was capable of representing Australia again.”

Sporting ambition: To keep getting faster and staying healthy. I would like to be competing in the sport for as long as I can while continuing to improve….. Most influential people in career: My two coaches Peter Burke and Sean Cleary. Burkie helped me fall in love with the sport, helped me throughout my developmental years and is family to me. Sean is very similar. He has looked after me while being in America and has always treated me as a holistic individual. Through all my injuries and up and downs he never gave up on me and still believed that I could make it to this level- even when I thought I couldn't…..Biggest challenge faced: My second concussion in 2019 (a gym accident). While this one impacted my training, the main reason this was my biggest challenge was because of the psychological effects of the concussion and navigating those…..Current career/study: In 2021 commenced a Ph.D. focusing on coaches' mental health/college coach/teaching at West Virginia University....Sporting Hero: Anne Cross - an incredible mentor to me growing up…Biggest challenge you faced: navigating my mental health while competing at a high level, completing my doctorate, working and coaching…Advice to your young self: Keep having fun and remember why you do it. Remember to always love yourself and be proud of who you are.
 

@ 22 June 2024 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au