Meet Katja Dedekind
Paralympian and athlete, Katja Dedekind, joins Vision Australia as one of this year’s 100K Your Way ambassadors.
Hailing from the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane, Katja has represented Australia in Swimming and played Goalball nationally. At only 23, Katja is a Paralympic and Commonwealth Games medallist, as well as a world champion and world record holder.
Breaking onto the Australian Dolphins team in 2016, Katja made the Paralympic team after an incredible performance at the Australian National Championships. She would quickly go on to stun the world at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, winning bronze in the women’s 100m backstroke s13 at just 15-years old! Katja would return in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics to win two bronze medals, securing a PB and setting a new Australian record.
2022 marked another huge year for Katja, where she won gold and two silvers at the World Para Swimming Championships, before winning gold and setting a World-Record time in the women’s 50m freestyle S13 at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Most recently, Katja was selected to represent Australia at the 2024 Paris Paralympics for swimming.
Katja continues to make strides as an athlete, despite living with low vision conditions, congenital cataracts and amblyopia. Katja cannot wait to partake in this year’s 100K Your Way and raise funds for her fellow blind and low vision Aussies.
About Vision Australia
Vision Australia is a leading national provider of blindness and low vision services in Australia. We work in partnership with Australians who are blind or have low vision to help them achieve the possibilities they choose in life.
We support more than 25,500 people of all ages and life stages, and circumstances. We do this through 35 Vision Australia centres in Victoria, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia; and through outreach programs in the Northern Territory and Tasmania.
We are a not-for-profit organisation and a major participant and partner in the international blindness community.
You can read more about Vision Australia on the website here.
