Athletics team bolsters as stars book tickets to Birmingham

The Australian athletics team for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games has been significantly bolstered, with 53 track and field athletes added to the squad.
 
The new selections boost the Australian Athletics team to a total of 85 competitors, comprising 69 able-bodied athletes and 16 Para-athletes.
 
Among those named today are reigning Commonwealth champion Kathryn Mitchell (javelin) and marathoner Eloise Wellings, who will become the first Australian first track and field athletes to compete at five Commonwealth Games.
 
The team also include Gold Coast 2018 gold medallist Brandon Starc (high jump), Tokyo 2020 breakthrough star Rohan Browning (100m), as well as a bevy of Games medallists, including long jumpers Henry Frayne and Brooke Buschkuehl (nee Stratton), Alexandra Hulley (hammer throw) and Jessica Stenson (nee Trengove).
 
For two-time Olympian Eloise Wellings, 39, a fifth Commonwealth Games appearance is a monumental milestone in a career that has covered 24 years on the international stage.
 
This will be her first Australian team appearance since the birth of her second child in 2019 and her first as a marathoner after scaling up from middle distance track events.
 
“It’s an honour any time I get to put on the Australian kit, but to make five Commonwealth Games teams is very special,” Wellings said.
 
“I have vivid memories of my first Games in Melbourne as I was screaming down the home straight in front of 90,000 people. I have beautiful memories like this from each of my Games appearances.
 
“To be selected for Birmingham is especially exciting after missing the Tokyo Olympics last year. As a female athlete, you’re never really sure if you’re going to be back at your best after having a baby. It’s been a long hard road and I’m stoked to be selected.”
 
Wellings has a history of success on the track, making finals at the Olympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games, and has enjoyed the distance shift up to the marathon.
 
“There’s a certain romance to it – it’s an unfolding story within an actual event. Even before you get to the starting line, there’s the build-up and the layers, and then the race itself brings such physical and mental challenges. I’m in the thick of it now and learning.”
 
Kathryn Mitchell is also on a high after securing her place on her fifth Games team.
 
“I never imaged I would go to that many,” Mitchell said.
 
“As reigning champion, I’m honoured to be selected as part of a quality team in the javelin.
 
“Commonwealth Games is an honourable event. Australia has such a strong history which I believe creates a unique team vibe.”
 
For reigning Commonwealth Games high-jump champion Brandon Starc this selection is particularly special for him and his coach.
 
“Three Commonwealth Games teams with my coach Alex (Stewart) is a pretty cool feat, but this will be the first where we’re both dads,” Starc said.
 
“I am 100% there to defend my title and having my wife, Laura, and son, Oli, cheering on the sidelines will make this competition all the more memorable.”
 
Two more Para-athletes have been selected among the additional 53 Team Members, with wheelchair racer Sam Carter and sprinter Indiana Cooper receiving invitations to compete from World Para Athletics.
 
Indi Cooper, 16, will become the youngest member of the Australian athletics squad, racing alongside previously announced athletes Rhiannon Clarke and Ella Pardy in the T38 100m event.
 
The selection is a tremendous rise for the young sprinter who was inspired to get involved in the sport while watching Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games champion Isis Holt compete at the Rio 2016 Paralympics.
 
Cooper becomes the fifth Kurt Fearnley Scholarship recipient on the Australian Team bound for Birmingham.
 
The Kurt Fearnley Scholarship is a joint venture between Commonwealth Games Australia and the Carbine Club of NSW established in 2019 to target talented individual Para-sport athletes in NSW who received minimal funding from existing programs, to help them towards the Birmingham Games.
 
Commonwealth Games Australia Team Chef de Mission Petria Thomas OAM was thrilled to announce the latest selections today.
 
“This is an exciting group who are ready to be bold in gold at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham,” Thomas said.
 
“Today’s selections are a wonderful mixture of defending gold medal champions, experienced campaigners, and the next generation who are ready to establish themselves on the world stage.
 
“Australia has enjoyed a tremendous legacy in athletics at the Commonwealth Games, and I know the Team Members selected today are ready to add their names to that storied history."
 
Athletics Australia CEO Peter Bromley welcomed today’s team announcement, highlighting the significance for the sport in Australia.
 
“I’d like to extend my congratulations to all of our athletes selected today for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games,” Bromley said.
 
“It’s a huge honour to represent Australia, especially at the Commonwealth Games as the only opportunity our athletes have to compete in an integrated team. This team is an incredibly strong one, and we look forward to seeing how they fare against the best in the Commonwealth after topping the medal tally at home on the Gold Coast four years ago.
 
“I know the entire country will be watching and cheering on and I wish them every success.”

The Australian Athletics Team for the 2022 Commonwealth Games:

Women:
100m: Naa Anang Q, Ella Connolly Q, Bree Masters Q
100m T34: Sarah Clifton Bligh N, Robyn Lambird W, Rosemary Little N
100m T38: Rhiannon Clarke W, Indiana Cooper N, Ella Pardy W
200m: Riley Day Q, Jacinta Beecher Q, Ella Connolly Q
800m: Catriona Bisset V, Georgia Griffith, V
1500m: Abbey Caldwell V, Linden Hall V, Jessica Hull N
1500m T54: Angela Ballard A, Christie Dawes N, Madison de Rozario N
5000m: Rose Davies N, Jessica Hull N, Natalie Rule V
10,000m: Isobel Batt-Doyle S, Rose Davies N
100m Hurdles: Liz Clay Q, Michelle Jenneke Q, Celeste Mucci V
400m Hurdles: Sarah Carli, N
3000m Steeplechase: Amy Cashin V, Brielle Erbacher Q
10,000m Walk: Katie Hayward V, Rebecca Henderson V, Jemima Montag V
Discus: Taryn Gollshewsky Q
Discus F42-F44: Sarah Edmiston W
High Jump: Nicola Olyslagers N, Eleanor Patterson N
Javelin: Kelsey-Lee Barber Q, Mackenzie Little N, Kathryn Mitchell V
Long Jump: Brooke Buschkuehl V, Samantha Dale, N
Hammer Throw: Alexandra Hulley N
Heptathlon: Taneille Crase Q
Pole Vault: Nina Kennedy W
Shot Put F57: Julie Charlton N
Marathon: Sinead Diver V, Jessica Stenson S, Eloise Wellings N
Marathon T54: Dawes, de Rozario
4x100m Relay: Anang, Beecher, Connolly, Day, Masters, Mucci

Men:

100m:  Rohan Browning N, Jake Doran Q
100m T38: Evan O'Hanlon O/S
100m T47: Anthony Jordan V, Jaydon Page A
200m: Jake Doran Q
400m: Steve Solomon N
800m: Peter Bol W, Joseph Deng Q, Charlie Hunter N
1500m: Oliver Hoare N, Stewart McSweyn T, Matthew Ramsden W
1500m T54: Samuel Carter A, Jake Lappin A
5000m: Jack Rayner V, Matthew Ramsden W, Ky Robinson Q
10,000m: Jack Rayner V, Ky Robinson Q
110m Hurdles: Nick Hough N
3000m Steeplechase: Ben Buckingham V, Ed Trippas Q
10,000m Walk: Rhydian Cowley V, Kyle Swan V, Declan Tingay W
Decathlon: Cedric Dubler Q, Daniel Golubovic Q, Ash Moloney Q
Discus: Matthew Denny Q
High Jump: Brandon Starc N
Javelin: Cameron McEntyre N
Long Jump: Henry Frayne  Q, Chris Mitrevski V
Pole Vault: Angus Armstrong W, Kurtis Marschall W
Marathon: Liam Adams V, Andrew Buchanan V, Jack Rayner V
Marathon T54: Jake Lappin A
Triple Jump: Julian Konle Q
4x100m Relay: Joshua Azzopardi, Browning, Jacob Despard T, Doran, Jack Hale T, Mitrevski
 

Athletics has been held at every Commonwealth Games since the first British Empire Games held in 1930 in Hamilton, Canada. Para-athletics were added to the program at the Victoria 1994 Commonwealth Games, then returned at the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games.
 
Alexander Stadium has undergone a £72m ($128m) renovation to host the athletics competition and the opening and closing ceremonies at Birmingham 2022, transforming the venue from a 12,700 capacity stadium to around 30,000 spectators.
 
Australia and England are both vying to become the first nation to win 200 gold medals in
athletics at the Commonwealth Games. Australia is also on track to win its 500th athletics medal in Birmingham.
 
Australian sporting legends Marjorie Jackson-Nelson AC CVO MBE and Raelene Boyle AM MBE are the most successful Australian track and field athletes at the Games, each winning seven gold medals.

The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games will be held from Thursday 28 July to Monday 8 August with the Athletics competitions to be conducted from Tuesday 2 August through to Sunday 7 August at Alexander Stadium.

By Commonwealth Games Australia and Athletics Australia
Posted:  28/6/2022