Australian 3000m Championships | Last Chance Titles

After a year deprived of athletics in Australia, the highly anticipated Zatopek:10 meet in January saw the welcomed return of high-performance competition on home soil. Now April, the momentum and energy has only built and the Australian 3000m Championships are set to close what has been a scorching season from Australian athletes of all disciplines. 

With results from the event contributing to 5000m ranking points, several of Australia’s Olympic hopefuls will be looking to attain a healthy injection of points to push their case for the Games with strong performances.

There will be no livestream of the event, but tune in to Athletics Australia's social channels to keep up to date with all the latest action. 

Women’s 3000m (6:00pm AEST): 

Reigning 10,000m national champion Rose Davies (Scott Wescott) has her eyes set on her second national title of the season but will have her work cut out for her in the form of Isobel Batt-Doyle (Riley Cocks) and Genevieve Gregson (Nic Bideau). Davies is yet to regather the form that stunned onlookers at Zatopek in January, but one would suggest it is only a matter of time before an athlete of her class strikes again. 

Batt-Doyle went agonisingly close to the Olympic 5000m standard of 15:10.00 when she last stepped foot on Box Hill’s Hagenauer’s Reserve, clocking 15:11.07 for the 12.5 lap journey which had the crowd roaring. The South Australian has an 8:51.82 best to her name over 3000m from just last month and is in threatening form entering tonight's showdown. 

Gregson has finished on the national podium of the 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m this season, along with taking gold in the 3000m Steeplechase. Such range would suggest the versatile talent is more than capable of toppling the field here if she can bring her best, which stands at the 8:49.38 she mustered up in 2018. 

Georgia Hansen (Stephen Ellinghaus) bounced back from a nasty fall at the Australian Track and Field Championships to run a blistering lap of The Tan in Melbourne last weekend. Hansen is overdue to clean up her personal best of 8:59.30 and could serve as one of the surprise packets of the race, more than capable of taking multiple scalps in the high caliber field.  

New Zealand’s Camille Buscomb (Nic Bideau) will pace the first three laps before Australia’s premier middle-distance women go to battle in pursuit of the national title.  

Men’s 3000m (6:15pm AEST): 

At 34-years-old, David McNeill (Nic Bideau) registered a slick new personal best of 7:46.41 over 3000m when tearing away from the field at the Box Hill Classic earlier this month. McNeill finished third in the national 10,000m bout and fourth in the 5000m, with the 3000m looming as the 2016 Olympian’s best chance to stand atop the podium. 

McNeill’s biggest challenge will come in the form of Ryan Gregson (Nic Bideau), with the 3000m trip short enough for the former 1500m Australian record holder to punish his competitors late in the piece. The seasoned veteran has declared that races under his belt are paramount to his success, with this race seemingly tailored to his preferences and shaping up as a promising opportunity. 

Emerging Queenslander Jude Thomas (Peter Reeves) has been on a rampage in 2021, taking home both the Australian 1500m and 5000m Under 20 titles in convincing fashion. Thomas clocked 8:00.07 over 3000m at the Queensland State Championships after doing a mountain of work out in front, placing Ryan Gregson’s Under 20 national record of 7:57.45 well within the frame of his season. The exciting talent has run 13:53.25 and 13:57.86 respectively in his two 5000m races this season, illustrating his strength at only 19-years-old. 

Other prominent names in the field include Rorey Hunter (Dick Telford) and James Hansen, whilst Jordan Williamsz assumes pacing duties and will be tasked with stringing the field out early. 

By Lachlan Moorhouse
Posted: 29/4/2021