By Emma Kemp
Katrina Gorry and her fiancee Clara Markstedt have welcomed a baby boy into the world, giving the Matildas’ unofficial mascot Harper a little brother.
Markstedt, a recently retired Swedish footballer, gave birth to Koby Peter David Gorry on Sunday morning and announced the new addition to the family in an Instagram post on Wednesday.
“Our sweet baby boy,” the couple wrote. “Big sister is absolutely in love and our hearts are so full.”
Gorry gave birth to three-year-old Harper in August 2021 – three days before her 29th birthday – before she met Markstedt.
The veteran midfielder made the decision during the COVID-19 pandemic to become a solo parent, having IVF and then taking time away from the game postpartum.
After missing the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, the Queenslander, who turns 32 next month, began her comeback in time to become a crucial member of Australia’s 2023 World Cup semi-final team.
She juggled breastfeeding between games and training until Harper turned one. “That was definitely the most challenging thing,” the Matildas midfielder told this masthead just before the World Cup. “And any kind of contact to the breast was super painful. I’d just come home with bruises everywhere.”
By the time the tournament rolled around she was in better form than before childbirth, and had developed a formidable midfield partnership with Arsenal star Kyra Cooney-Cross.
Harper, for her part, became the youngest face of the Matildas, captivating the hearts of the Australian public via Gorry’s social media and the national team’s official accounts, travelling everywhere with the team.
Gorry and Markstedt met in February 2020, after Gorry joined Swedish outfit Vittsjö GIK. They became fast friends, as Markstedt helped her new club teammate and her daughter settle into a new country with a new language.
A few months later they were a couple, and became engaged in June 2023.
“We had a picnic by the water, played some cards and Clara showed me a video of our past year together,” Gorry told Woman’s Day. “She wrote me a letter, told me to close my eyes and got down on one knee. It was beautiful.”
Markstedt, 34, carried baby Koby while Gorry continued to play, though the latter sustained a serious ankle injury in March while playing for West Ham that cast doubt on her involvement in what could be her last major international tournament.
After surgery and several weeks of rehabilitation, she is still yet to make her return for club or country but was selected in Tony Gustavsson’s 18-player squad for the Olympic Games starting later next month and is confident she will be ready in time for Australia’s first group-stage match against Germany on July 25.
Katrina Gorry on the road with Harper during the 2023 World Cup.Credit: AAP
“As soon as I went down, I knew that something wasn’t right,” Gorry told this masthead last month said of the injury she suffered in March, during a 2-0 defeat to Chelsea, which ended a superb debut season in the FA Women’s Super League.
“I had actually done my left ankle in 2019, just before the World Cup, so I kind of knew that it was similar as soon as it happened. I just had to wait to get the scan back and then get into surgery straight away, which all happened pretty seamlessly.
“It was obviously a pretty heartbreaking moment – not just for the Olympics, but I was really enjoying playing for West Ham as well, and I feel like I just got started, so I was pretty heartbroken about that as well. But they’ve been incredible, and I know the Football Australia staff are incredible as well, so I think it’ll all be fine.
“Obviously, it would be pretty devastating if I did have to miss the Olympics, but I trust in my body. I feel like I can get back and give what I can.”
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