Aussie relay hero makes surprise switch as LA Olympics loom

Olympic sprinter Calab Law, one of Australia’s gold medal-winning relay heroes at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, has taken his career in a new direction after getting back to business in Brisbane.

Nine.com.au can reveal Law, 22, has decided to take up hurdling.

A talented 200m runner with a personal best of 20.21 seconds and a world junior championship bronze medal, Law is now going all in on the 110m hurdles with less than two years to go until the Los Angeles Olympics.

The young gun had his first hurdling training session at Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre on Monday under the keen eye of his coach Andrew Iselin, who is also the coach of Lachlan Kennedy, Australia’s fastest man.

Law will continue to be part of the Australian men’s 4x100m relay team.

The Queenslander teamed up with Kennedy, Rohan Browning and Josh Azzopardi to snatch a shock gold medal in the 4x100m relay at the Commonwealth Games in early August – and he believes they are capable of winning gold at next year’s world championships and at the LA 2028 Olympics.

Law was a hurdler until the age of about 17. He gave it away because he was going through an “awkward growth phase as a late bloomer” and couldn’t get his stride pattern right.

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Explaining his decision to make hurdling his top priority again, he said he had been itching for a shake-up.

“Hurdling is different, complicated, and dangerous,” Law told nine.com.au.

“I was getting sick of just starting from a gun and running. My mind likes to be challenged, and hurdles look super complicated, which I love.

“I didn’t lose my love of sprinting, but lining up at the same mark wasn’t giving me that adrenaline rush or excitement any more. And when I’m not excited, I don’t put my all into it. I’ve been doing flat sprints for five years now and I just wanted a new challenge.

“It looks scary from the outside. My nan hated watching me hurdle as a kid; she’d put her head down until the race was finished. But my mum loves it; she thinks the chaos and hitting hurdles is what sport is supposed to be.

“With the world record being broken recently, seeing how the event is evolving globally is really cool.”

In his late teens, Law made a rapid jump from 172cm to 185cm.

“I felt like a giraffe and didn’t know what to do with my legs!” he recalled.

“So Andrew [his coach] said, ‘All right, no more hurdles, we’re just going to run’.”

While the 110m hurdles event is now his main priority, Law will also run the occasional 400m hurdles races.

The Australian 110m hurdles record has stood since 1995. It’s 13.29 seconds and it belongs to Kyle Vander-Kuyp, who has mentored Law for a few years.

Vander-Kuyp, who like Law is an Indigenous Australian, wants the rising star to knock off his record.

“He’s amazing, and it would be crazy if I could break his record,” Law said.

“It would mean heaps. Kyle has always been there for me. He warmed me up at the Olympic Games [in Paris in 2024] for the 200m, and as an Indigenous man like myself, it would mean a lot to both of us. He keeps me calm, knows how to have a laugh, and reminds me that at the end of the day, it’s not that deep – you just have to do what you know you can do.”

As for striking gold in Glasgow, Law is still on cloud nine.

“It was dope,” he said. “There was that external selection drama leading into Glasgow, but between the four of us, it wasn’t a big deal.

“When we won, we proved what we’d known we could do for the past year.

“We beat the Olympic champions and world silver medallists [Canada]. We’ve run faster on two previous occasions, in Sydney and Botswana, so the potential speaks for itself.

“Our ultimate goal is winning a world championship or an Olympic Games.”