Katie Kelly

Kathleen Margaret "Katie" Kelly (born 6 February 1975) is an Australian paratriathlete, who has a degenerative disease known as Usher syndrome. Kelly began competing in the PT5 paratriathlon classification in February 2015 when her condition deteriorated to a legally blind state. She has just 30 per cent of her vision. She competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.

Personal life Kelly was born on 6 February 1975 in Casino, New South Wales. She is one of five siblings, all of whom were heavily into sport. At the age of five she was diagnosed with poor hearing and subsequently has worn hearing aids. In 2009, she gained her master's from the University of Technology Sydney.

Kelly has worked in the sports industry in roles with the National Rugby League, Melbourne Storm, ANZ Stadium, Newcastle Knights, Northern Territory Dept Sport and Recreation and Athletics NSW. She has also done pro bono work as media liaison officer for the Australian Blind Cricket Team and was a former media liaison officer for the Australian Deaflympic team at the 2005 Deaflympics that was held in Melbourne and was also a DSA board member. After being diagnosed as legally blind in January 2015, Kelly contacted the Australian Paralympic Committee regarding her eligibility to compete in paratriathlon. In February 2015, was classified as a vision impaired (PT5) paratriathlete.

On 13 March 2015, Kelly placed first at the ITU World Paratriathlon held at the Sunshine Coast, Queensland with her guide Laura Cook. Two weeks later, Kelly placed first at the National Paratriathlon Championships in Redcliffe on 29 March 2015, with a time of 1:16:59. These titles led Kelly to be ranked number 13 in the world.

Kelly with guide Jones won her their first World Championship title after a come-from-behind victory at the 2015 World Championships Final in Chicago. Kelly's main aim is to make the Australian paratriathlon team for the 2016 Rio Paralympics. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, Kelly with Jones as the guide won the gold medal in the Women's PT5 event. It was Australia's first medal in paratriathlon at the Summer Paralympics.

She won the bronze medal with guide Holly Grice in the Women's PTV1 at 2018 World Championships at Gold Coast, Queensland after battling a stressed left metatarsal in the lead up to the event. At the 2019 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in Lausanne, she finished eighth in the Women's PTVI.

Kelly's guide for 2020 Summer Paralympics was Briarna Silk and they trained with Triathlon Australia's High Performance Coach Dan Atkins on the Gold Coast. She finished sixth in Women's PTVI with a time of 1:13.01.

Recognition 2016/17 – Sir Roden Cutler Award, Primary Club of Australia 2017 – Order of Australia Medal in 2017. 2017 – Triathlon Australia Female Performance of the Year. 2017 – Triathlon Australia Paratriathlete Performance of the Year. 2024 - Triathlon Australia Hall of Fame