BREE WALKER
Olympic Winter Games Attended
BIOGRAPHY
Bree Walker commenced bobsleigh after a successful career as a hurdler in Athletics.
Walker season started off the 2018-2019 season with victories in both of the inaugural monobob races in Lillehammer, Norway, in November 2018 and then placed second at the third race for the season in Konigsee, Germany. Monobob is a new addition to the Olympic Programme for Beijing 2022. Walker spent the majority of the northern hemisphere winter based in Europe. Alongside brakewoman Jamie Scroop, the pair competed in their first ever bobsleigh World Cup in Innsbruck, Austria, in January 2019, placing 13th. In 2019-2020, Walker again had impressive results in monobob, with victory in Winterberg, Germany, and double gold in La Plagne, France. Walker made her World Championship bobsleigh debut in Altenberg, Germany, finishing in 14th place with brakewoman Stefanie Fernandez. Walker continued her exciting form into the 2020-2021 season, taking home three medals in the monobob, and finished the season in second place on the IBSF end of year rankings. In the two-woman bobsleigh, Walker and brakewoman Sarah Blizzard had a personal best World Cup finish of eighth place in Innsbruck, Austria, which was one of four top-10 World Cup bobsleigh finishes. The 2021-2022 season again saw Walker claim a number of medals in IBSF Monobob World Series events, with an impressive five medal haul, highlighted by a victory in Winterberg, Germany. Walker's best results in the two-woman bobsleigh came with brakewoman Kiara Reddingius, with the pair finishing in seventh place in their first ever start together in Winterberg. Walker was selected to make her Olympic debut at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing in the bobsleigh and monobob disciplines. In the monobob, Walker recorded Australia's best ever Olympic bobsleigh result, as she jumped up the leaderboard to finish fifth after a pulsating final day of racing. After day one of the two day competition, Walker was sitting tenth after her first run and seventh after her second, On day two, Walker came out firing to put down the second fastest times in both runs three and four to jump into fifth overall. Walker was joined by brakewoman Kiara Reddingius in the two-woman bobsleigh, where they placed 16th. Competing in her first World Cup events of the 2022-2023 season, Walker made an impressive start with top-five finishes in both the monobob and two-woman events in Winterberg, Germany. Whilst the World Cup tour commenced in North America, Walker had elected to base herself in Europe to start her Northern Winter campaign, competing on the European Cup circuit, winning gold in her three event starts. Joining Walker in the two-woman was brakewoman Sarah Blizzard, who has also been focusing on monobob racing to start the northern winter, with the pair having limited time in the sled together ahead of this week's World Cup competition. The pair made a great start with the fifth fastest time on the Winterberg track, just 0.63 seconds behind first place. In the second run they had the ninth fastest time, just .02 seconds off their first run time, with a time run time of 1:55.04, 1.30 seconds behind first place in fifth overall, two places better than Walker's previous best result of seventh with brakewoman Kiara Reddingius on the same track in November 2021. At the difficult Altenberg track, Walker took home her first monobob World Cup podium of the season in Germany. The QAS athlete had two consistent runs, finishing the first run in third place with a time of 1:00.92 seconds. Walker created history recording Australia's best ever sliding sports performance at an IBSF World Championships, narrowly missing the podium in fourth place in the monobob event in St Moritz, Switzerland. Competing on the spectacular hand cut ice on the natural St Moritz track, the QAS athlete put down four great runs to finish just two tenths of a second shy of the podium. The combined total time for Walker's four runs was 4:45.77, which had her finish 0.92 seconds behind event winner Laura Nolte of Germany, with American Kaillie Humphries in second and Lisa Buckwitz of Germany in third. Walker continued her success on the Igls track in Innsbruck, Austria, with a silver medal performance at her final IBSF World Cup monobob event of the season. The podium performance was her second for the season at the World Cup level, and the fifth time Walker has medalled on the Igls track. Walker made a strong start recording the third fastest time in the opening run in 54.71 seconds. In the second and final run, the 2022 Olympian improved to finish with a time of 54.68 seconds which was the second fastest of the round. In March, Walker headed to North America for the first time in years, heading to the Lake Placid in America for a training camp on the former Olympic track, and also to compete in two North American Cup monobob events. On the first day of competition, Walker took home the gold medal, finishing ahead of 2023 World Champion Laura Nolte of Germany, with her teammate and 2018 Olympic gold medallist Lisa Buckwitz in third. On day two, the top-two places on the podium were reversed, with Nolte taking the win ahead of Walker, and Buckwitz again in third. With Walker likely to be back competing in the North American World Cup events next season, and Lake Placid hosting the 2025 World Championships, the podium results will give her great confidence for the future. Walker had another impressive season during the 2023-2024 Northern Hemisphere winter, with a number of personal bests and historic performances. In total, Walker achieved five World Cup medals in the monobob, including Australia's first ever gold medal in bobsleigh at the final event of the season in Lake Placid, USA. At the 2024 World Championships, Walker matched her previous PB at the prestigious event with a fourth in monobob, and had a new personal best in the two-woman event with brakewoman Kiara Reddingius making it the most successful World Championships of her career. In two-woman World Cup events, Walker and Reddingius also had encouraging performances with four top-5 results, finishing the season ranked a personal best sixth on the two-woman standings. But the highlight was undoubtedly the final event of the season in Lake Placid, recording Australia’s first ever bobsleigh World Cup gold medal and a career best end of season ranking. Walker started with an incredible first run, setting a new track record for Lake Placid in 59.22 seconds, which was well over a second faster than the old record. In the final run, Walker was the final competitor of the event as the leader from the first round and performed superbly under pressure to again record the fastest time in 59.45 seconds, to secure her first ever World Cup victory with a two-run time of 1:58.67 seconds. American Elana Meyers Taylor on her home track finished second 0.24 seconds behind Walker, with Cynthia Appiah of Canada 0.46 seconds back in third. “It feels amazing, I came into this week knowing that I can be competitive and to come away with a win is the best possible way I could end the monobob season, I am so happy. “Heading into the second run I knew I had to execute what I did in the first run. When I crossed the line, I couldn’t even see the time or know where I had finished, but I knew it was a good run and I would be in the medals, but even better that it’s the win." The victory also saw Walker jump two places on the final World Cup monobob standings to move into second place on 1549 points, her best end of season ranking. Q & A
Childhood Ambition:
To become and Olympian Proudest Moment: 2022 Winter Olympics and 2023 World Championships I began this sport .... in 2016/2017 Participation in other sports: Horse Riding, Track and Field (400m, 400m hurdles) Favourite overseas competition and why: Winterberg because it is my hometrack Sports Hero: childhood hero-Cathy Freeman, adult hero- Lydia Lassila , Serena Williams When I am not training/competing I am: Drinking coffee, shopping, hanging out with friends and family, walking my dog Highest level of education achieved: Bachelor of Physical Education Sponsors: Zone by Lydia, Bodyice, XTM LINKS |
INDIVIDUAL ATHLETES
INDIVIDUAL ATHLETES |
|
|
|
