Hi all! Well these next few months are busy busy for me! I competed in my first 200m for the year at the adelaide classic and ran a PB breaking the T42 World record! It was such an amazing feeling as I havent had the competition experience because of my injuries and this definitely boosted my confidence and made me so happy to be back! Last week I competed in my 100m for the year and ran a time of 16.56, which is obviously not my best but im so happy with it as its been awhile! These next two months are very crucial for completions, I have ACT Champs in two weeks, where I will be competing in the 100m and Long Jump, as well as Australian Nationals in April where I will be doing the 100m, Long Jump and 200m. I will keep you all posted on how I go! Life off the track is very busy for me to! I have just moved house and am working on reception at the Victorian Institute of Sport, which I love! I have had many trips to sydney to see my Prof Leg, ( David Howells) at APC prosthetics for some fine tuning of my leg and its working really well! I have also been fitted with the new Otto Bock walking leg the “genium” which is also amazing! Ive also taken on the role at home to cook all my meals which I am loving very much! I am trying new recipes all the time and if your lucky I may post a couple each week for you to try! ( they are all very healthy of course !) Bye for now and take care Kelly x

Hi all,

So what a great start to the year! training hard and loving it! This year for me is so important and with all my injuries last year im hoping it will be the best yet! I am training very well but also keeping on top of my recovery and maintaining my injury free body more than ever! I am looking forward to whats coming up as its comp season for me and I cant wait to see where Im at! I have been fitted with a new walking leg in the last 2 weeks and it is amazing! it enables me to go that extra step in the gym and everyday life! My coach and I are really working hard to put together my best techniques for running and jumping, and it all seems to be working well! My biggest challenge thought is learning how to use blocks! Ive always done a standing start but now we have decided ( and for obvious reasons) that block starts are going to help me so much and hopefully have one up on my competitors! Loving but hating the ice baths at the moment! they seem to be colder than ever at the brand new VIS! This year we all got to move into the new Victorian Institute of Sport and its amazing! Brand new track right next to the gym and pool! Everything is set up so well and its pretty much my second home! I am competing in my first competition for the year this weekend in long jump and am very excited but nervous…. so ill keep you posted! Everything is all well with the fam and of course my favorite animals Jamaica and Millie! Loving the sunshine to, bye for now!

Kelly

Hi all, So what a great start to the year! training hard and loving it! This year for me is so important and with all my injuries last year im hoping it will be the best yet! I am training very well but also keeping on top of my recovery and maintaining my injury free body more than ever! I am looking forward to whats coming up as its comp season for me and I cant wait to see where Im at! I have been fitted with a new walking leg in the last 2 weeks and it is amazing! it enables me to go that extra step in the gym and everyday life! My coach and I are really working hard to put together my best techniques for running and jumping, and it all seems to be working well! My biggest challenge thought is learning how to use blocks! Ive always done a standing start but now we have decided ( and for obvious reasons) that block starts are going to help me so much and hopefully have one up on my competitors! Loving but hating the ice baths at the moment! they seem to be colder than ever at the brand new VIS! This year we all got to move into the new Victorian Institute of Sport and its amazing! Brand new track right next to the gym and pool! Everything is set up so well and its pretty much my second home! I am competing in my first competition for the year this weekend in long jump and am very excited but nervous…. so ill keep you posted! Everything is all well with the fam and of course my favorite animals Jamaica and Millie! Loving the sunshine to, bye for now! Kelly

We arrived in Christchurch, NZ on Sunday the 6^th of January, having so much equipment (30 wheelchairs and a few spare legs), it took us a while to finally get on the bus and head to our hotel.

The first few days in Christchurch the weather was great: 25 to 30 degrees but the weather from day to day changed, raining and windy one minute and sunny and still the next.

I was lucky enough to train on the main track a few times before I competed and got a  good understanding of where we would compete and the conditions of the track.

We had such a great team that headed over to New Zealand and I made some great friends leading up to the games so it was great getting to be with them and train with them. We had breakfast lunch and dinner at the hotel – always eating together, the food was great but when it’s a three day cycle you got sick of it pretty quickly!

My first event on the track was my long jump, I had competed only a few times in long jump leading up to NZ so I really didn’t know how I would go at an international level. I was going in ranked second but was up against the world record holder Venessa Low who was the only woman to jump over 4 meters. Her WR was 4.12m.

My first jump was pretty big and I was happy with it but knew if I wanted to secure a safe spot in the top three I needed to jump a lot bigger. In training leading up to NZ I knew I was jumping near 4m, but wasn’t exactly sure. For my second jump, I focused on everything my coach had told me to remember in run up and jump and it all came together really well: I jumped a new WR of 4.19 and was in the lead!

My next jump was just as big but slipped on the board and went head first straight into the pit, it was really quite funny. My next few jumps weren’t as big but the other girls had not jumped over 4m to so I was anxiously watching their jumps, waiting for somebody to jump further than me. But nobody did and on my last jump I knew I had won and just jumped the best I could. I really was so shocked that I had won gold but also set a new WR, I couldn’t get the smile off my face and neither could my coach.

My family had come over and my mum wouldn’t stop crying or hugging me! But I had to give them a quick hello and race to my medal ceremony which I was so excited for. Being up on the dais was so amazing and seeing my teammates all cheering and chanting “C’mon Aussise, lets go!” made me so proud and happy!

I had a day’s rest before my 100m on the 25^th. The 100 is my main event so I was a lot more nervous and knew my running partner Michelle Errichiello (world record holder for the 100m) would be my greatest rival.

The week before NZ I had competed in Sydney breaking the world record (16.31) running a 15.97 but because of the very nice tail wind the run did not count.

I have to admit I was very nervous waiting at the start line getting introduced, it was anyone’s race and having not competed internationally for a while, I hadn’t had the experience I wish I had. I became unsteady and distracted from the long jump pit when I got on my blocks so I raised my hand and the starter let us re-position ourselves. I was so nervous about breaking after that, because you don’t get a second chance: one false start and you’re out!

I didn’t get the start I wanted as I reacted slowly to the gun but it was better than breaking I say! Everyone got out in front of me and after about 20m I knew I had to run them down if I wanted to win.

So I did and once I started overtaking the others I really started to run it out strong, and finished the race first with a new Championship record of 16.47. It would have been nice to break the WR but it wasn’t to be and I had a very slow start so that is something I can work on.

Another medal ceremony and singing the national anthem really made my last competition day one to remember  and to know I was coming home with two golds and World Record was absolutely amazing!

I went to the track everyday after that to support and cheer on the rest of my teammates – they all performed so well and we came home with 8 gold medals!

I’m so happy with my performance and now have my sights set on London. It was great seeing what I will be up against and having the experience under my belt, hopefully I can get 18 months of uninterrupted training before London and be at my best!