Melbourne III

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In 2023, I was waitlisted for the Zurich Diamond League, which that year took place after the World Championships in Budapest, where I’d been knocked out in the women’s 800m semis. I watched the final from the stands. If Athing Mu didn’t win gold, my agent told me, she would pull out of Zurich and I would get her spot. Mu ended up with bronze and within five minutes I received a text confirming my lane. That’s show business?

A few days later, on the start line in Zurich, I felt oddly calm. All my nervous energy had been used up at the World Champs. I glanced to my right, into the tunnel to the post-race media zone. Roger Federer stood there looking out at us. Sure babe, why not. We’re called to the start line, set off, and I followed behind Laura Muir and came second in 1:58.

This year I ran in Zurich as the pacemaker for the women’s 1500m. I ran halfway before peeling off as planned and I decided to myself at that moment that I wouldn’t be a rabbit again. Pacemaking involves most of the stress and preparation of a race but none of the payoff. Your aim is to be invisible. We have pacing lights now and soon enough I bet we’ll have humanoid robot pacers. Like with better shoes being called ‘shoe doping’, the media will call this ‘robot doping’ and honestly I can’t wait.

Also yes, Roger Federer attended this year too. The jumbotron kept showing him sitting in the stands looking as handsome and smug as ever. I assume Zurich have his appearance fee as a standing item in the Diamond League budget.

Anyway, I’m back in Melbourne now because I didn’t make the team for the Tokyo World Champs, but if anyone asks I tell them it’s because I failed the SRY gene test. Jokes aside, I’m writing my thoughts on gender testing for a magazine article that I’ll share soon.

So, that’s a wrap on my 2025 season!

I’ve had the past week off running, giving me some time to mentally recover and fix a knee niggle that’s been bothering me all year. (I had a cortisone anti-inflammatory injection two days ago.) I’m also nesting, as we moved house while I was overseas. My new local athletics track is in Coburg, a few kilometres up the same creek that borders George Knott Reserve. You can look forward to learning about it in a future Track of the Week segment. This week, though, let’s dip into the archives and examine the first non-European/Australian track of the series.

Drake Stadium is on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles. I raced here in May 2024 at the LA Grand Prix. The athletes stayed at the hotel on the university campus. I got sick on my flight from Australia and had muscle soreness for the whole week leading into the race. There were no ice baths on offer and no baths in the hotel rooms, so I bought a kiddie pool from the nearby Target and taped it to the sides of the shower, then filled it up via several trips to the ice machines at the end of the corridor. This whole setup took several hours of effort. Sorry I didn’t reply to your email, it’s just been a really busy time on the road.

LA is hilly. This works well for a stadium because you can take advantage of natural amphitheatres in the terrain.

Drake Stadium has one monolithic concrete seating block that accommodates 11,700 people. It’s beautiful in its simple material palette of concrete and timber, with trees lining the upper walkway, though I imagine that the lack of shade over the seating would be grim in the beating sun. Fortunately while I was there the weather was cool and still, perfect for spectating.

The day before the meet, as I trained on the track, I had to navigate huge numbers of students who appeared to be taking a class. Students were everywhere all day everyday on every sports ground. On race day, warming up on the football pitches behind the track, I dodged soccer balls and witnessed players verbally harassing each other. Since I didn’t travel well and the race went out in 56" for the first lap, I went into rigor mortis on the final straight, finishing towards the back of the field.

I’d love to do some more meets in the US, though I’ll have to remember to print out my meme collection to enjoy analogue in case they confiscate my phone at the border.

In the next issue, our track series will expand to Asia, as I’m about to go on a short trip to Nanjing to visit my mum’s family.

xoxo Trina