 |
|
 |
||||
BIOGRAPHY |
The rising star of World decathlon is undoubtedly Australia’s 24-year-old Ash Moloney. In 2018 he won the World U20 Championships title and at his first crack at senior competition he placed an incredible third at the Tokyo Olympics. It was Australia’s first global medal (Olympics or World Championships) in the decathlon and at 21, he became the third youngest Australian men’s Olympic medallist.
He was involved in one of Australia’s most memorable moments of the Tokyo Olympics, when training partner Cedric Dubler, sacrificing his own goals and ran alongside Moloney in the last event, the 1500m, and shouted encouragement to him. He ran a three seconds PB which ensured he held off fourth and fifth places which were within 50 points of his final score of 8649 points – an Oceania and Australian record.
In March 2022 Ash made his Indoor debut at the World Indoor Championships taking the bronze medal with a score of 6344 points in the Heptathlon. But the next two years would be tough for Ash, finishing just one of six decathlons he started due to injury and illness.
He was back on track in 2024, winning the National title with a modest score for him of 7884. Chasing his Olympic dream, he scored well at Gotzis in May tallying 8367, then at the Oceania championships in early June he scored 8182. It had been three decathlons in three countries in seven weeks.
+ + + + +
Ash Moloney is an enormously talented all-rounder, competing in the demanding two-day decathlon. It all started for Moloney in primary school, he wanted to be the fastest at school and enjoyed the crowd that gathered when he broke school high jump records. He mainly competed in the jumps, triple/high/pole and occasionally sprints, primarily just at school, region and state. As a younger athlete he says “I wasn’t particularly good at anything really - I tried other sports such as soccer and AFL but I was either too skinny or wasn’t coordinated enough.”
In 2015, aged 15, he won the Australian All Schools U16 high jump title with a leap of 2.00 metres. Shortly after he competed in his first combined event on just two weeks training. “I never really wanted to do decathlon because I thought it’d be way to difficult and the 1500m and 400m events frightened me, but I gave it a crack.” With great foresight his coach, Eric Brown, said before that first competition, he could make the Olympics.
In early 2016, in his second decathlon competition, he won the national U18 title, just days after he turned 16. In September, he tallied 7328 with a sub-11 100m, 14+ metres in the shot, sub-14 hurdles, 4.60m vault and 4:50 1500m. He was well on his way as a decathlete.
In 2018, Moloney won the World U20 Championship title in Finland. The favourite going into the competition, he delivered, scoring 8190 points and defeating teammate and silver medallists Gary Haasbroek by 400 points. He tallied the second highest junior score in history.
At the mid-2019 Oceania Championships, while still a teenager, he scored 8103 points with the senior implements, setting himself up for a 2019/2020 summer crack at an Olympic qualifier. But injury initially prevented that attempt, then COVID hit.
Then at the end of 2020, on a warm day in Brisbane, with his training partner Cedric Dubler alongside him, he was ready for a big score. “You kind of know beforehand what shape you're in. It’s just a matter of putting it together which is the hard part, so we knew it was possible.”
Over two days of gruelling competition, he and Dubler, each compiled massive PB scores. Moloney tallied 8492 points, a PB by 389 points, Oceania and Australian records, the number two performance in the world for 2020 and an Olympic qualifier.
“My reaction was kind of like a ‘finally moment’ because of all the uncertainty of COVID, injures and to top it off it was a really rough decathlon from cramps to falling off poles in the vault and being only a couple points over the record.”
He would go on to take an historic bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics in a stunning tally of 8649 points – an Oceania and Australian record.
In March 2022 Ash made his Indoor debut at the World Indoor Championships. He was in incredible form, taking the bronze medal with a score of 6344 points in the Heptathlon. He set PBs in the long jump and pole vault, broke the Australian and Oceania records. His score was the highest ever for third at the championships.
After a strong start at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Ash withdrew from the decathlon after the discus.
He explained: "I was struggling to put my foot down ... and I was starting to feel like I couldn't run properly.”
He also had a big ice pack on his right knee on day one, but said he had been troubled by patellar tendinitis in the left knee as well. He was also forced to withdraw from the Commonwealth Games. He closed the year scoring 8060 points in the Queensland Championships – his first completed decathlon for 15 months.
In May 2023, he lined up in his first Gotzis decathlon. He complied an excellent day one total, lying in third place. But struggling early on day two, eventually withdrew after the discus with food poisoning.
Hobbies: In those rare breaks, he has an interest in audiophile, 4-wheel-driving and video games… Sporting ambition: Inspire people who have it rough to go out and go for it… Influence: First coach (Eric Brown) for pushing me towards the decathlon and my former training partner Cedric Dubler keeping me honest and assisting to guide me down the path of an Olympian like himself…Hero: My parents. Without them I would have never had the opportunity to be at the level I am without them making many sacrifices…Records: holds the national U18, U20 and open decathlon records.
@ 5 June 2024 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au