Australia has a stellar start at the 2019 World University Games

There were some great performances all round, which have led to qualifications that will see our athletes come up again in the hot conditions of Naples.

But it was the only final of the night that drew the most attention, the women’s 10000m.

Two Aussies took part in it; Izzi Batt Doyle (University of Washington) and Clare O’Brien (Boise State University). They finished a more than respectable 6th & 9th in in 34:21.45 & 34:42.55.

The 2019 NCAA Champion Izzi Batt-Doyle about the race said that it was:

“Really hard, really really hard, I raced in Austin about five weeks ago for the NCAA Nationals and I thought the heat there was tough, but it actually felt hotter here,” Batt-Doyle said.

Both Izzi and Clare kept with the main pack basically the majority of the race but it was at the 8km mark that Izzi kept with the field and Clare slowly dropped back.

But by 9km Izzi had dropped off the pack as well, and the front three runners of Deshun Zhang (34:03.31) of China, Rino Goshima (34:04.65) of Japan & Natsuki Sekiya (34:05.84) of Japan pulled away with it.

The journey to get to Naples has been very long for the vast majority of our athletes, and Batt-Doyle said exactly this:

“I flew back from America two and a half weeks ago, I was home in Adelaide for two weeks and then 30 hours later – two planes, three trains, two taxis I arrive in Naples – it was a lot, but being here (in Naples) is great.

Other performances from Day 1:

Gabriella O’Grady (University of Technology Sydney & Penny Gillies) - 400m Q 53.07

Genevieve Cowie (The University of Sydney & Lindsay Watson) - 400m H Q 57.91

Catriona Bisset (The University of Melbourne & Peter Fortune) - 800m Q 2:05.13 (qualified fastest in field)

Morgan Mitchell (Victoria University & Elizabeth Mathews) - 800m Q 2:06.17

Jess Bell (The University of Canberra & Michael Barber) - Javelin 49.04m

Mackenzie Little (Stanford University & Zebulon Sion) – Javelin Q 57.87m

Jess Harper (The University of Queensland & Stacey Taurima) – Long Jump Q 6.31m

Elizabeth Hedding (The University of Melbourne & Alex Stewart) – Long Jump Q 6.29m

Celeste Mucci (RMIT & Darren Clark) - 100m Q 11.66

Shemaiah James (The University of Queensland & Stacey Taurima) – Triple Jump Q 15.85m

Julian Konle (Curtin University & Gary Bourne) - Triple Jump 15.67

Zach Holdsworth (University of Wollongong & Michael Dooley) - 100m (Re-Run)

Brenton Foster (University of Virginia & Bryan Fetzer) - High Jump Q 2.20m

Grant Szalek (The University of Western Australia & Grant Ward) - High Jump Q 2.15m

Day 2 of the athletics at the World University Games is underway tomorrow and there are three options on where to catch the action from the Games – all semi-finals and finals will aired on the FISU Live Stream, the Olympic Channel Live Stream and certain times on EuroSport on Foxtel.