14 September 20 10
By Polly Simons
Northside News

The catwalks of Australian Fashion Week might seem a world away from the Athletics Centre at Sydney Olympic Park, but for TuThe catwalks of Australian Fashion Week might seem a world away from the Athletics Centre at Sydney Olympic Park, but for Turramurra teenager Amy Pejkovic, the two are closer than you’d think.
“It can be strange to go from high-end brands to Little Athletics crop tops, but generally it’s pretty good,” she said. “The sport keeps me fit for modelling and the modelling gives me a better profile for sport. It puts me out there for both of them.”
At 17, she already juggles a burgeoning modelling career, appearing in Russh, Cleo and Marie Claire

magazines and on the cover of Frankie, with the long hours and extreme discipline of being one of Australia’s youngest and most promising high-jump athletes.
“It can be pretty full-on but the reason I can do it is my mum,” she said. “She drives me around, picks me up and takes me places.”
In May, Pejkovic walked for designers Nicola Finetti and Little Joe at Australian Fashion Week.
She narrowly missed out on Commonwealth Games selection at the World Junior Athletics Championships in Canada last month, but came in at a very respectable eighth place - despite being two years younger than most of the other competitors.
Tomorrow she will compete on the same track as the world’s fastest man - Jamaican Usain Bolt - at the Pirtek Athletics Allstars Event at Sydney Olympic Park, to mark 10 years since the Sydney Olympics Games took over the city.
“I’m hoping I’ll be able to meet him,” she said excitedly. “To be honest, that’s one of the main reasons I wanted to go.”
A statuesque 181cm, Pejkovic discovered her talent for athletics early on when a junior school teacher entered her in a school high-jump competition.
“I was always the tall kid at school but it came as a total surprise when I won,” she said.
Working her way up through the athletics ranks, she ended up representing NSW in the sport.
“So I though I had better just run with it,” she said.
She is now a member of the Australian under-19 talent squad and hopes one day to represent Australia at the Olympic Games.
“I just try to take everything as it comes,” she said. “I still get nervous but I find that if I keep an open mind about what (height) I jump, I do better. As soon as I have a goal in mind, I find I mess it up and don’t make it.”
In the meantime, there’s always the modelling and her HSC studies to complete at St Leo’s Catholic College in Wahroonga.
“Next stop is hopefully the Olympics, but if it didn’t happen, I wouldn’t be devastated,” she said.
“I want continue with all three - high jump, school and modelling - because if you have one set thing and it fails, what do you have left? It’s good to have options.”