Personal Statistics
Current Residence : Mountlake Terrace, Washington
Hometown: Issaquah, Washington
College: University of Arizona & William Penn University
PRS
Outdoors
50 km - 4:21:51 AR
40 km - 3:27:10 AR
35 km - 3:00:43 AR
30 km - 2:34:36 AR
20 km - 1:37:24
10 km - 46:52
Indoors
3 km - 13:14.09
1 mile - 6:50.08
Katie Burnett first got involved in race walking the first summer she participated in club track at 13 years old. She was trying all the events and a girl on her team did the race walk so she tried it too. However, a few years would pass before she really trained in race walking. She started racing more frequently and competed at Junior Olympic nationals within my first few months of focusing more intensely on the event.
Burnett was all over the place athletically. Before trying race walking she played basketball, football, cross country, softball, and in track did middle distance, jumping, and throwing events. In high school she also played badminton, swimming, gymnastics, and soccer. Uncharacteristically for a championship race walker, Burnett was predominantly a thrower in track. She also jumped, vaulted and ran the hurdles. She was certainly the definition of an all-around athlete.
In college she threw the javelin at the University of Arizona her freshman year before transferring to William Penn University and reigniting her race walking career. Then her real training began.
Her first big race was competing at the prestigious Millrose Games in 2010. She was on pace for a big personal best and crossed the finish line only to find out a few minutes later that she was disqualified. It was devastating. However, Burnett did not dwell on the lesson all too many early race walkers learn. Instead, she turned it around by competing in her first 20km that summer at USATF Outdoor Nationals. It was also her first senior level national competition and came away with 8th place in 1:51:23.
Over the next year Burnett dropped 10 minutes off of her 20k time finishing 5th at the 2011 championships in 1:41:10. In 2012 she made her first international team, only to suffer heartbreak a few months later when she was disqualified at the US Olympic Trials. Dismayed at the last season, she entered 2013 on fire and claimed PRs at every distance from the mile to the 30km. At the 30km Championships was also where Burnett would win her first national championship race, finishing second overall to the men’s winner.
She began gravitating to the longer distances more and more. Despite injuries marring the first half of 2014, she trained hard in the late summer and fall for her first 50km race walk. It was a huge success. Earning 2nd place at the championship with 4:39:42, Burnett has the fastest 50km debut in US history. Unfortunately, only the men had the 50km event at the World Championships and Olympics Games, so she had to switch her focus back to the 20km distance. After years of 4th place finishes, she finally reached the podium for the first time at the USATF 20km Championships in 2015 and finished 3rd again at the US Olympic Trials in 2016, but without hitting the time standard for either race, she was left watching the global championship events at home.
She switched her focus that fall and committed to the US 50km championships in January 2017. She achieved another huge breakthrough hitting 4:26:36, establishing American Records at 35k and 40k along the way. At the time, the international women’s 50k was but a hopeful thought, so again she tried to make the 20k standard for worlds but repeatedly came up short. Then came the call. Late July she raced a 3000m Walk and threw the javelin at a local meet, trying to have some fun before resuming normal training. Just as she got to work, she received a phone call that would change her life: the women’s 50km was to be added to the IAAF World Championships in 4 weeks in London. With little time to prepare, she trained as much as she could, mimicking the 4 weeks before her January 50k. The limited training didn’t hinder her much on race day. For part of the race she was in medal position, walking strong in 3rd place. Around 5k to go she caught back up to 3rd, but watched her chances of a medal slip through as she hung on to everything she had left; the last few weeks of training wasn’t enough that day to reach the podium. While not holding on to the bronze, she came away with a new American Record and 4th place finish in 4:21:51.
Burnett typically trains anywhere from 100 to 160 kilometers (60-100 miles) a week. Her longest training walk is now 40km (25 miles) and her coach has foreshadowed longer ones. :) She does a lot of fartlek type training; picking up paces in the middle of walks, practicing at different race paces for so many minutes or miles and then recovering by going slower. Almost all of her training is specifically race walking. She doesn’t run much, but she does hike or bike for fun cross training. She also do a lot of core work now (pretty much every day) and resuming strength training in the gym. The last two are really important to maintain balance in order to avoid injuries.
She’s always been a fan of long walks stating, “they’re challenging to get through but it’s nice to be outside and meditate through the miles. You have to accept that you will be outside for hours and there’s just something very freeing about that expectation.”
She would like to make more World Championship teams and make my first Olympic team. She got my first international medal at the NACAC area championships last summer (2018 Bronze) but is hoping to chase down a few more international medals. And break her own American records a few more times (35km, 40km, and 50km).
2009 - 4th 2018 – 3rd 2017 – 3rd 2016 – 3rd 2015 – 3rd 2014 – 4th 2013 – 4th 2012 – 9th 2011 – 7th
2018 - 1st *First Year of Rankings
Coming Soon
2013 - 30km 2017 - 50km 2018 - 50km Coming Soon
