Rhydian Cowley
Personal information
NationalityAustralian
Born (1991-01-04) 4 January 1991
Melbourne, Victoria
Sport
SportRace Walking
Event(s)50 kilometres race walk
20 kilometres race walk
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)10 kilometres race walk: 39:14
20 kilometres race walk: 1:20:19
50 kilometres race walk: 3:52:01

Rhydian Cowley (born 4 January 1991) is an Australian race walker born in Glen Waverley, Victoria who specialises in the 50 kilometres race walk and 20 kilometres race walk.[1] Cowley competed in the 2013 World Championships in Moscow and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.[2] For both of his major championship competitions, Cowley qualified in the 20 kilometres race walk.[3] He has also competed at a Summer Universiade, five World Race Walking Cups, and a World Junior Championships.[3] In 2021, he competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo where he finished in 8th in the men's 50 kilometres walk with a new personal best time of 3:52.01 just 113 seconds behind the eventual winner Dawid Tomala of Poland.[4][5]

Personal life

Cowley was born on 4 January 1991.[1] He attended Melbourne High School and Deakin University in his schooling years,[6][7] completing a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Commerce at the latter institution.[8] He currently lives in Glen Waverley, Victoria, Australia.[2] Cowley started race walking at Little Athletics when he was 8 years old.[9]

Competition

Cowley's debut at an international athletics competition was at the 2008 World Race Walking Cup where he competed in the junior 10 kilometre race; finishing 39th in at time 45 minutes and 24 seconds.[3][10] He then competed at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics where he finished 17th in the 10 kilometres event.[3] Cowley competed in two more World Race Walking Cups in 2010 and 2012.[3] At the 2010 competition he once again competed in the junior 10 kilometre race.[3] This time he finished 15th.[3] At the 2012 edition of the IAAF World Race Walking Cup he competed in the senior 20 kilometre walk and finished 90th.[3] He competed in his first World Championships in the 2013 competition where he finished 50th out of 64 athletes in the 20 kilometre walk.[3] The 2014 World Race Walking Cup was Cowley's fourth World Race Walking Cup.[3] He finished 57th in the senior 20 kilometre walk.[3] Cowley competed in the 2015 Summer Universiade, his first Summer Universiade.[3] His finish of 13th in the 20 kilometres walk was his best ever finish at an international competition.[3] Cowley's best finish at a World Race Walking Cup came in the 2016 edition when he finished 39th in the senior 20 kilometre walk.[3] Cowley qualified for his first Summer Olympics in 2016.[3] At the 2016 Summer Olympics he will compete in the 20 kilometre walk.[3]

Cowley has said he was inspired when rival Australian race-walker Jared Tallent was awarded his gold medal for the 50 kilometres walk at the 2012 Summer Olympics in 2016 after Sergey Kirdyapkin was disqualified for doping.[2] He said; "I’m looking forward to going to the Treasury steps and watching Jarred get his medal. For so long, we’ve known there was something wrong with the Russian system. There’s been so many failed tests."[2]

In 2019, he competed in the men's 20 kilometres walk at the 2019 World Athletics Championships held in Doha, Qatar.[11] He did not finish his race.[11]

At the 2020 Summer Olympics in 2021, Cowley placed 8th in the men's 50 kilometres walk with a new personal best.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 "Cowley / Profile World Athletics]]". Archived from the original on 11 May 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Turner, David (20 June 2016). "Rhydian Cowley heads for 20km road walk in Rio with a spring in his step as team mate Jared Tallent receives his long overdue London gold medal". The Herald Sun. Archived from the original on 2 October 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 "Rhydian Cowley". athhistory.imgstg.com. Australian Athletics Historical Results. Archived from the original on 19 August 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  4. 1 2 "Athletics - Final Results". Olympics. Archived from the original on 22 July 2021. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  5. ↑ "Athletics COWLEY Rhydian - Tokyo 2020 Olympics". olympics.com. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  6. ↑ "Rhydian Cowley" (PDF). Victorian Race Walking Club. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 September 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  7. ↑ "Rhydian Cowley / Deakin Spirit". Deakin University. Archived from the original on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  8. ↑ "The 2022 Commonwealth Games begin this week: good luck to our elite-athlete students and alumni in Birmingham". Deakin Life. Deakin University. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  9. ↑ "Rhydian Cowley". Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  10. ↑ "10 Kilometres Race Walk Men". IAAF. Archived from the original on 16 October 2015. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  11. 1 2 "Men's 20 kilometres walk – Final" (PDF). 2019 World Athletics Championships. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 July 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
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