KYLE SWAN

BIOGRAPHY

As a junior race walker Kyle Swan was a regular on the national team, representing Australia on an impressive four occasions as a teenager. In 2021 he made his Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games where in the stifling Sapporo heat he placed 36th in the 20km Walk in a time of 1:27.55.
“It was challenging out there, so hot, but it was so much fun. I enjoyed competing on this stage and I’m happy with the result,” said Kyle.
“I did everything I could in the last six months to make this a reality. It didn’t matter if I came first or last, I was going to be happy with the opportunity to be an Olympian.”

His 2022 season was busy and successful. Twice he lowered his 10,000m PB in January, followed by a two minute PB over 20km Walk at the Australian Championships in February. He was selected in the 20km Walk for the World Race Walking Teams Championship in March where he placed 34th and helped the Australian team to fourth place. He won the National 10,000m Walk track title and has been named in the world championships and Commonwealth Games teams.

In his world championships debut, Kyle placed 33rd in a time of 1:28.43 and three weeks later was sixth at the Commonwealth Games clocking 40:49.79 in the 10,000m track walk.

2023 was full of PBs for Kyle from 5000m to 35km walk, but one result shone, when in March he took over two minutes from his 20km walk PB, clocking 1:19.24, as he moved to number six fastest in Australian history. He moved pass some of the greats of the event, although remains just nine seconds slower than his coach Jared Tallent. At the Budapest World Championships he placed 40th in the 20km walk.

He made a great start to the 2024 season, highlighted by another 20km walk PB time of 1:18.59 in March in China. He jumped from 6th to 3rd in Australian history passing some of the greats of the sport - Luke Adams, Jared Tallent and Dave Smith.

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Growing up in the Melbourne suburb of Wantirna, Kyle Swan first started in athletics aged six years. “As the youngest child in my family and too young to stay home alone, I had to follow my siblings around to their sports on the weekend,” he recalled. “My brother had started Little Athletics a few years prior, so I figured that if I had to go and watch for hours, I may as well join in myself! I found I had an affinity for the longer distance events (the 800m walk was the longest on offer at that age) and soon started training with my first coach Fran Attard.”

He made his junior international debut aged 16 at the 2015 World Youth (U18) Championships. His last two performances as a teenager in 2018, were of the highest quality. In the junior event at the World Race Walking Cup in China, he was the first Aussie across the line in 10th place and helped Australia to bronze in the team event. Two months later he travelled to Finland to compete in the World U20 Championships where he placed an outstanding sixth 41:24.12.

As a senior athlete he now needed to race over twice the distance - 20km. 
“Transitioning from the junior to the open ranks means tougher competition and more competitive teams, but for race walkers it also entails a jump from the 10km junior events up to at least the 20km distance. The 20km requires more mileage in training and is more mentally taxing too. After the conclusion of my junior career, it took me about 18 months to put down a solid 20km performance.”
He raced regularly over the new distance during 2019, after starting with a modest 1:35 hours, by December he was down to a terrific 1:23.53. After a low key COVID-effected 2020, in 2021 he set track bests over 5000m and 10,000m and two solid walks just outside his 20km PB.

During his years of travel and training he attended Melbourne High School, graduating in 2017 and in 2021 completed a Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne.

@ 25 May 2024 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au