By Jodie Symonds
MOUNT EVELYN’S Breeana Walker is swapping hurdles for bobsleigh as she tackles her way to the 2018 South Korea Winter Olympics.
She’s a state champion in 400m hurdles, but now Ms Walker is focused on representing Australia in the bobsleigh event.
The 24-year-old is heading to Canada on Saturday 22 October to learn how to pilot the bobsleigh.
Ms Walker said she always had an aspiration to represent Australia at the Olympics.
She had always been involved in athletics, but felt there may be more opportunities in another sport to reach her goal of becoming an Olympian.
“I was inspired by [Olympian] Kim Brennan who won gold in rowing at the Rio Olympics – because she was a hurdler before a rower,” Ms Walker said.
“It made me think ‘if she can do it, I can do it’.
“I thought I was limiting my skill set by focusing on athletics.”
Ms Walker said throughout her athletics training, if she was having a bad night of training, she would joke about switching to bobsled.
“I would say ‘oh, I’ll just go and do bobsled’,” she said.
The training camp in Canada will give Ms Walker vital practice time to go down the whistler track.
“We’ll try and get as many runs in as possible,” she said.
“Right now we’re just going over there to learn how to drive and become better athletes.”
In the lead up to Canada, Ms Walker had been training six days a week, incorporating gym equipment workouts with sprint training.
“We need to train short sharp sprints because that’s what we’ll be doing when we compete,” she said.
The bobsled can become a dangerous sport, but Ms Walker said she doesn’t like to let her fears limit her capabilities.
“There’s always going to be an element of fear – but I’m very much about feeling the fear, and doing it anyway,” she said.
“It’s such a fantastic opportunity and I wouldn’t want to ruin it by letting it get to me.”
In the lead up to the 2018 South Korea Winter Olympics, Ms Walker will go through months of training before she competes to qualify.
“We’ll start competing in January in America, then obviously depending on how we go, when we come home, there will be more training,” Ms Walker said.
“We need to develop our training, power and all things needed to compete for bobsled.
“Hopefully this time next year I can try and qualify for the Olympics.”
Ms Walker said the supportive Mount Evelyn community has made her feel blessed.
“It’s so nice to live in such a small community, and such a good community,” she said.
The road to the 2018 Olympics is not funded by the government, and Ms Walker is hoping to raise $10,000 to make her dreams come true.
“This all comes off our own back so any support we can get is appreciated,” Ms Walker said.
To donate, visit http://ozcrowd.com/campaign/3253
