Riley Day (Qld)

Once touted as one of Australia's most talented juniors, Riley Day is on her way to her first Olympic Games in Tokyo after an outstanding domestic season which saw her regain her best form after a quiet few years. Nicknamed the "Beaudesert Bullet", Day boasts more experience on the track than most 21-year-olds after rubbing shoulders with the likes of Usain Bolt at a young age. 

An up and coming sprinter from country Queensland, Riley Day burst on to the Australian athletics scene with stunning victories over 100m (11.73) and 200m (24.18) at the Australian All Schools Championships in 2016. 

Selected to compete for Team Australia at the Coles Nitro Athletics Melbourne in the weeks that followed, the then 16-year-old faced-off with Usain Bolt on the second leg of the mixed 4x100m relay at Lakeside Stadium, before competing days later to take victory over Olympian Jenna Prandini in the women's 150m. 

Day is a member of the Beaudesert Little Athletics Club and has also tasted success at this year’s Australian Junior Athletics Championships, winning both the 100m (11.59) and 200m (23.26). Selected for the Commonwealth Youth Games in Nassau in July 2017, she won gold in the 200m in a time of 23.42, as well as silver in the 100m (11.59). She added gold in the mixed 4x100m relay. While in the Bahamas she was named in the 200m in the Australian senior team for the 2017 IAAF World Championships, courtesy of an IAAF roll down. Aged 17 she became the youngest Australian 100m/200m athlete to compete in an individual event in the history of the championships and also the youngest female competitor overall in the championships. She placed seventh in her 200m heat in a time of 23.77. 

After a low-key start to the 2017/18 domestic season, Day ran a 100m PB of 11.52 in January. At the Australian Championships/Commonwealth Games trials, she predictably won the 100m in 11.56, but astonished the athletics community by clocking 22.93 in the 200m final into a 1.7m/s wind. The time was the third fastest in Australian junior history behind the high-altitude performances of Raelene Boyle and Jenny Lamy in Mexico City, and also moved Riley to number 13 on the all-time list. 

2019 saw Day win the Oceania 200m title in Townsville when clocking 23.51 (-0.1), along with winning a series of races in Japan over both 100m and 200m events. Day built on this form in early 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic halted proceedings. 

It's hard to call Day's 2021 season a "breakout" due to her early success, but her resurgence to the top of the Australian distance ranks has been admirable. Day qualified for the Games when running 22.77 (+2.0) at the Sydney Track Classic, before winning the national title to book her ticket to Tokyo. Day has plenty left in the tank ahead of her Olympic debut and is eyeing off a time in the range of 22.6 - which history would suggest will her a strong chance to make the 200m final.

Day completed Year 12 the Beaudesert State High School,and has begun studying nursing at Griffith University.