Catriona Bisset | Minding Records, Hunting Wins

Despite currently holding both the Australian women’s indoor and outdoor 800m records, Catriona Bisset is resigned to the fact that her times will one day be eclipsed – which is why her pursuits are fuelled by an unwavering determination to win. 

Speaking of her national record marks of 1:58.09 outdoors and 1:59.46 on indoor debut, Bisset acknowledges that the achievements sit pretty next to her name for now, but is already thinking ahead to when she is introduced as a “former” national record holder – what will she have left?

“I’ve been thinking about Australian records now that I hold both the outdoor and indoor [800m]. I’ve always really felt like the records don’t belong to me, they belong to Australia and really all I’m doing is looking after them until I pass them on to the next Australian,” she said.

“My priorities are winning races, making finals and winning medals. Those results are for me and my team, they are going to be on my career record and they are just there for us. I don’t pass them on which is why I really value them and celebrate them.”

The mindset stems from her 2021 campaign which saw her dominate the Australian domestic scene in fast times before being competitive on the European circuit, but advancing to the Olympic 800m semi-finals proved a bridge too far as she finished in fifth place of her heat.   

“There were some really great things that happened last year. I ran some of my fastest times but then there was the disappointment of the Olympics,” she said.

“After that I made some really important changes to my support team which included joining Linden Hall under the guidance of Ned Brophy-Williams, and I’m really grateful to those guys for welcoming me. We’ve been having a lot of fun.” 

Celebrating her 28th birthday today, Bisset says the most significant progress to date has come from joining a professional team and calibrating her routine as a full-time athlete with Hall – who finished in sixth place of the Olympic Women’s 1500m final in Tokyo. 

With Brophy-Williams at the helm of the unofficially named "Team Quokka", Bisset appears to have taken proceedings to another level since Tokyo – opening her season with a run of 2:00.16 to win at Zatopek before running an Australian indoor record of 1:59.46 in Birmingham at her indoor debut. 

“I didn’t really have any expectations for my first indoor race. It’s definitely really different, walking into that little stadium for the first time I was like ‘oh man, this is really wild.” It’s so intimate, you’re right up against this wall of people,” she said.

“Obviously because I was in a race with Keely [Hodgkinson], the crowd were so loud and I’ve never experienced such an intensity of audience noise. I feel like it really gave me a lot of energy,” she said.

Pleased with both the time on the clock and her final 200m sectional, Bisset progressed to her next indoor race in Poland – where she toppled the reigning 800m world champion Halimah Nakaayi en route to victory. 

“It was really special getting that win in Poland, I was honestly more excited about getting the win in such dramatic fashion than I was about breaking the record,” she said.

“You just realise how hard it is to win on the international circuit. There’s so many incredibly talented people out there and there are so many things that have to go right for you to win.”

Committed to running the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade on March 18-20, Bisset will first contest the World Athletics Indoor Meeting in Madrid tomorrow – where she will be hoping for some birthday luck alongside fellow Australians Linden Hall (1500m), Jessica Hull (1500m), and Eleanor Patterson (High Jump). 

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 1/03/2022