Submitted by The Evergreen State College
Katie Burnett, assistant cross country and track and field coach at The Evergreen State College, won the women’s competition at the 2025 USATF 35-kilometer Race Walk Championships on Sunday, Jan. 12 to claim the national championship in the event. The race featured athletes from around the world since it was a World Athletics Race Walking Tour Silver Label event.
Burnett finished in front of some quality USA athletes. Miranda Melville, who competed in the Tokyo Olympics and has won 10 USATF Championships, was the early leader. Near Melville was two-time Olympian Maria Michta-Coffey. Melville and Michta-Coffey were close together in the top two places until Burnett joined the battle near the 8-kilometer mark. Burnett trailed only Michta-Coffey after 10 kilometers, and moved into the lead as the race reached 20 kilometers.
The winning time for Burnett was 3:05:10. Melville finished second 42 seconds later at 3:05:52 and Michta-Coffey was third at 3:09:57. It was Burnett’s fifth USATF National Championship.
Previous USATF national titles were earned by Burnett in the 30-kilometer race walk in 2013, the 50-kilometer race walk in 2017 and 2018, and the outdoor 10-kilometer race walk in 2019. She holds the USA record in the 50-kilometer walk.
“I went into this race knowing that I wasn’t 100% prepared for the total distance but remembering that I also wasn’t prepared for my first 20-kilometer or 50-kilometer race years ago and got through those and had decent performances,” Burnett said. “I had a good feeling that day and took a risk early. It paid off but those last few miles were stressful trying to maintain my lead as I fought slowing down. I have been injured a lot the last few years, so I wasn’t going to give up easily.”
Burnett plans to continue competing in 35-kilometer race walk events this year to build up points to qualify for the World Championships. The race walking World Championships will be held in Tokyo, Japan, in September, 2025.