With the nation’s best ever crop of emerging athletics talent and a home Olympic and Paralympic Games on the horizon, Australian Athletics is expanding its Pathway Transition Program from 25 athletes and their coaches to 100, broadening the support network in 2025 off the back of an increase in High Performance funding from the Australian Sports Commission.
The Pathways Transition Program (PTP) has been successful in assisting promising Under 20 and Under 23 athletes and their coaches in their development towards future elite status through performance support, serving as a steppingstone for those sitting outside of the National Athlete Support Structure (NASS).
Comprising of 25 athletes and their coaches in 2024, the PTP model will now extend to 100 athletes and their coaches through the following areas: 40 Core Athletes, 20 Relay Futures, 20 Target 2032 and 20 Overseas Based Athletes.
Olympic semi-finalist and World Under 20 silver medallist Peyton Craig is just one of the names to have capitalised on the existing PTP program, with his junior coach Brendan Mallyon highlighting the crucial role the support played in his breakthrough year over 800m.
“Peyton sat down at the goal setting and said we want to go to the Olympics, and from that moment forward it was sensational. It was honestly incredible to have that many quality people surrounding us, everywhere we turned,” Mallyon said.
“You get out of it what you put into it. The biggest thing for me was the camp at the AIS, I just had a notebook and started talking to every coach I could, it was a great quest for new knowledge. Those face-to-face connections with people were the biggest catalyst in our success last year.”
Of the 10 individual medallists at 2024’s World Under 20 Championships in Lima, five of them were either current or past members of PTP, with Australia rising from seventh to second place on the World Under 20 placing table since the program’s launch in 2023.
With support ranging from physiology and nutrition to financial assistance to camps and competitions, the strategic aim of the program is to bridge the gap between successful junior performance and medal-winning performance at senior level.
The Target 2032 group will consist of up to 20 Talent Transfer athletes who will focus on building the nation’s strength in the 3000m Steeplechase and 400m Hurdles, where clear gaps exist for Australian athletes at a global level, while remaining spots will be allocated to Targeted Event Projects, designed to develop athletes in events where there is currently less depth.
A PTP Coach Development program will also be piloted during the Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic cycle, where coaches will be supported in improving their literacy of performance support to support their future leadership and guidance of Australian Athletics Teams and athletes.
A public information session will be held next Wednesday, March 19 at 8:30pm AEDT where the changes to the program will be communicated, following Australian Athletics’ Event Group Panels meeting last Wednesday, March 12 to discuss the initiatives.
Interested members must sign up by clicking HERE, with questions to be submitted by Tuesday, March 18 by 12:00pm AEDT.
All interested athletes must submit an Expression of Interest, which will be covered in the Information Session. More information is available HERE.
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Australian Athletics
Posted 13/3/2025
