An Australian Championships with an International Twist | Montag and Tingay Salute

The firing of the starter’s gun at the Australian 20km Race Walking Championships commenced a 90-minute clinic by the world’s best race walkers, as Jemima Montag and Declan Tingay charged to gold on a morning of global success.   

Walking side by side at Melbourne’s Fawkner Park with double European champion Antigoni Ntrismpioti, Montag appeared to be locked in a tight tussle for line honours as the pair raced in unison. Making her move at the 15km mark, the Australian record holder coached by Brent Vallance proceeded to march away from her Greek competitor with a 21:35 split for the final 5km en route to her fourth consecutive Australian 20km title – revealing the tactics post-race:

“Last year was about breaking the national record and today was about helping someone else break theirs. Antigoni [Ntrismpioti] and I have been training together all throughout January, so I thought I would set her up for that to 15km and then walk how an international race is always won, which is a really firm injection of speed at 15km,” Montag said.

Ntrismpioti successfully set a new Greek record of 1:28:12, while rising Australian talents including Olympian Rebecca Henderson (Simon Baker) and World Under 20 representative Olivia Sandery (Jared Tallent) pushed each other to new career-bests. Henderson stopped the clock in 1:29:54 for national silver, closely followed by the 20-year-old Sandery in 1:30:14 – setting up a new trio of Australian women to take on the world.

“I had to walk fast today to win. I always think of the 90-minute barrier as the elite club, it’s a huge deal. Bec [Henderson] has been thinking about that for a long time and for Olivia [Sandery] to be so young and do about a three-minute personal best – we are hoping to have a strong line-up in Budapest and towards the next Teams Championships,” Montag said.

“I was fourth in Oregon and I just want to be one better than that. Each season I learn something about myself whether it be in the sport psychology space or training and nutrition, and coming off this massive training camp at Perisher with 22 of the best walkers in the world – I expect that to be the case again.”

Three-time World Championships medallist Perseus Karlstrom (Sweden) returned to his best to take line honours for the men in the 20km with one of the fastest times ever walked on Australian soil, 1:19:27, pulling Tingay through to a personal best of his own and yet another national title.

Fresh off last week’s national 10,000m race walking record on the track, Tingay was pleased to take home the Australian crown and set himself up for a big year on the international scene – the hard taskmaster quick to analyse his performance:

“An auto qualifier would be better but it wasn’t necessary today, I am just happy with the personal best really. Perseus outclassed me today but he is the better walker, he did what he does best and dragged us all along to fast times – you can’t complain about getting beaten,” Tingay said.

“You always have to be happy with a national title. I might try and go for the trifecta this year and collect the 10,000m in March and then see if we can finish another 35km to get another one,” Tingay said.

The early pace was aided by a strong quartet featuring Kyle Swan (Jared Tallent) and Olympic medallist Evan Dunfee (Canada), with Swan holding on to take national silver in 1:22:52 and Rhydian Cowley (Brent Vallance) claiming bronze in 1:23:05. Dunfee finished third outright in 1:20:52.

“The boys really put me to work today and I am glad they did. I didn’t plan to go that fast, so a big kudos to Kyle [Swan] for setting the pace up early, Perseus [Karlstrom] for tearing my legs off at half way, and Evan [Dunfee] for pushing me along,” Tingay said.

The junior events were headlined by Owen Toyne (Matt Giggs) who carved over 60-seconds off the Australian Under 18 record (pending ratificaiton) in the 5km race walk (road), delivering a stunning performance of 20:55 to eclipse the previous mark of 21:58.00. Australian representative Marcus Wakim (Adam Garganis) took out the Under 20 10km event in a personal best time of 42:42.

Full results from the 2023 Australian 20km Race Walking Championships can be found HERE.

By Lachlan Moorhouse for Athletics Australia
Posted: 12/2/2022