Aussies Abroad Impress | Weekend Recap
Published Mon 05 Jun 2023
Australian success on international soil was not limited to the Florence Diamond League, as Kurtis Marschall and Jye Edwards led the way in Europe with top-three finishes at the FBK Games in Hengelo – a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting.
The Continental Tour Gold series rolled on in Hengelo, Netherlands as Kurtis Marschall (Paul Burgess & James Fitzpatrick) soared over 5.81m to claim silver behind world record holder Mondo Duplantis (Sweden) who cleared 6.11m. Maintaining a clean sheet to 5.81m, Marschall earned a look at a new personal best of 5.91m in a competition environment.
Jye Edwards (Dick Telford) added another positive result to his comeback season when racing to third place of the 1500m in 3:38.24. The smooth-moving Edwards led the field through the bell and into the home straight, fending off all bar two of his fast-finishing rivals. Fellow Australian Matthew Ramsden (Nic Bideau) finished in 10th place in 3:40.21. Linden Hall (Ned Brophy-Williams) capped off the action in Hengelo with a 4:03.66 performance for seventh place of the 1500m, racing off a quick turnaround after the Florence Diamond League.
Racing at the Orlen Janusz Kusocinski Memorial in Chorzow, Poland Catriona Bisset (Ned Brophy-Williams) built on the form that carried her to second place at the Rabat Diamond League, clocking 1:59.22 to finish in behind Olympic finalist Jemma Reekie (Great Britain). Leading the contest down the back straight of the bell lap, Bisset was overtaken by Reekie before finding herself tangled up in a scrappy contest on the bend for home, surging for home with a big finish.
Rohan Browning (Andrew Murphy) made it a pair of silvers for the Australians at the World Athletics Continental Tour Silver Meet, charging down the straight in 10.32 (-1.4) just two days after his 10.15 (0.0) run at the Florence Diamond League. The race was won by Poland’s Dominik Kopec on home soil, leading from the gun to win in 10.21-seconds.
The Trond Mohn Games in Bergen, Norway was home to further Australian success, as double national champion Torrie Lewis (Andrew Iselin) clinched the first international win of her short career to date, with the 18-year-old clocking 23.23 (+0.1) over 200m. Rose Davies (Scott Westcott) continued her strong form with a 15:10.30 performance to win the 5000m by over 13-seconds, while Jalen Rucker (Gary Bourne) jumped to victory with a 7.84m (+1.1) leap in the long jump.
Joseph Deng (Justin Rinaldi) inked another race in his resurgence with a strong front-running display when finishing in second place in a time of 1:46.70, only overtaken late in the home straight with the winning time reading 1:46.61. Fellow Australian Jye Perrott (Ben Liddy) finished in eighth place in a time of 1:49.77. National silver medallist Emily Whelan (Matt Horsnell) also landed herself on the podium in Bergen with a 1.78m clearance enough to earn her bronze on countback.
Runs of 2:03.67 for fourth place in the 800m by Ellie Sanford (Terri Cater) and 4:11.93 for sixth place in the 1500m by Sarah Billings (Collis Birmingham) rounded out the prominent finishes in Norway.
Olympic steeplechaser Amy Cashin (Sean Cleary) registered her fastest time of the year when finishing in second place at the Portland Track Festival, stopping the clock in 9:38.27 as she gets her international campaign underway.
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 5/6/2023
