By Michael Scalzo

A young Horsham long-distance runner is gunning for future international athletic success after making waves in the Australian athletics community last week. 

Daisy Sudholz claimed gold in two events at Australian Track and Field Championships in Sydney, winning the women’s under-17s 1500-metre and three-kilometre events. 

Sudholz started favourite in the 1500m event, having recorded three world under-20 qualifying times this season. 

She controlled her race-win from the start to win by more than two seconds from her rivals. 

Sudholz said she hit the lead in the three-kilometre race with one kilometre to go and just ‘took-off’.

“In the 1500m, it was with about 200m to go I realised I could seal the win. In the longer race, it was with a kilometre to go that I felt I had it in me to grab the win,” Sudholz said. 

She hoped the wins would secure selection to represent Australian in Oceania Championships in June. 

“Beyond that, the World Junior Championships might be possible in the next couple of years,” she said.

Sudholz trained in her junior career under Horsham’s Rick Price and joined the Rod Griffin Running Squad after moving to Ballarat last year. She said professional runners she admired included Linden Hall and Jessica Holt and continued to train seven days a week. 

“I run every day,” she said. 

“I am in the gym three times a week and have coached running sessions three days a week. On my off-days I jog between 10 and 15 kilometres.”

She said despite her proficiency at both distance events, she preferred the 1500m. 

“The 1500m is shorter and that is probably my favourite, I find it more fun and exciting – the three-kilometre so many laps of the track,” she said.

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