Wagga athlete Hannah Mison would rather walk the walk than talk about it.
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Luckily, the 19-year-old is very good at it too.
Mison has set her sights on representing Australia at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in Minsk, Belarus, next April, after excelling on her return to the sport this year.
For someone who's been doing Little Athletics with the Kooringal-Wagga club since under 6s, it's a tale of persistence as well as talent.
Even in the middle of winter, Mison's schedule is busy, after her commitment to have another crack at the sport (after a COVID-break) was vindicated by results.
"I feel pretty good. Things are going well," Mison said.
"I'm having fun and enjoying it. There's pretty much a meet a month."
Pretty much a head-turning result every month too.
Mison made a successful trip to Canberra's Stromlo carnival over the long weekend, claiming victory in the 15km women's open event and finishing third in the 5km.
That was after gold in the 15km at the NSW Short Walk Championships late last month, and two exceptional efforts at national events in open company earlier this year.
Mison made the athletics community sit up and take notice when she finished fourth in the 10,000m race walk at the Australian Track and Field Championships in April.
Her time of 50 minutes, 59.25 seconds was almost a nine-minute improvement on her time for the same track event in early 2020.
"That was alright. I really enjoyed it. That was about as good as I expected. It was a good time. It's not a pb now but it was then."
She was also just outside the medals in the 20km race walk at the Oceania Championships in March, which served as an Olympic qualifying event.
The 20km race walk is the only women's event at the Olympics, while the 10,000m (track event) has replaced the 20km at next year's Commonwealth Games.
Mison says the Games in Birmingham aren't on her radar at this stage but she'd love to be on the team for Belarus.
"Hopefully by next year I can get into the World Team Championships. They take a team of five so, it just depends," she said.
The World Race Walking Team Championships were meant to be held in 2020 before being postponed. It could be just the stroke of luck Mison needed after last year was a write-off after March.
Returning to the track was almost an afterthought this year but, having trained for just four months by herself, she came out and won two open age 5000m state titles, in Canberra and Sydney.
Mison's profile on the world athletics website indicates her career progression in that event, bringing her time down two-and-a-half minutes in two years to 24.44.12.
It convinced the teenager to get serious and aim up for the national events.
She's now working under her old coach, Frank Overton, again in Gosford where she's just returned from another training session.
In a year in which Little Athletics NSW celebrates 50 years, Mison is one of Wagga's current success stories.
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