Beer Leads Suva Success on Day Six| Oceania Athletic Championships

Paris in August looked a little more possible for a clutch of Australian athletes after Day 6 of the Oceania Track and Field Championships in Suva, Fiji.

On an afternoon when eight senior finals were contested, six golds were garnered by the Australians in action with four men and two women standing atop the victory dais – in the end not the best choice of days to attend by New Zealand’s Prime Minister.

Ellie Beer was perhaps the most impressive – in complete command in the women’s 400 metres final in 51.91, winning by a solid margin over team-mate Mikaela Selaidinakos who took silver in 53.11.

Beer’s victory will lift her around eight places on the qualification table for Paris. With 48 guaranteed a start over the one lap of the Stade de France come early August, her placing in the low 30s looks very comforting.

A finish-line quinella for Amy Cashin and Cara Feain-Ryan improved their chances of being part of the 36 spots available in Paris for the women’s 3000m steeplechase. After sharing the lead early in the race, Cashin eventually drew away to win in 9:41.54 but the World University Games champion maintained a good rhythm to collect silver just under seven seconds adrift.

Both athletes were on the border of the qualifiers list before today’s race but have moved up several places to a point where at least Cashin can be confident of nomination for the Olympics.

In the men’s 3000m steeple, ultimate winner Matt Clarke and Ben Buckingham clearly also had an arrangement to share the pace for more than half the journey but like Cashin, Clarke left nothing to chance and injected some extra speed in the final laps for a victory by an impressive 13 seconds over his fellow Aussie.

Clarke was only the third ranked Australian on the Road to Paris listing before today’s race and was well outside the qualification block - but his Suva performance sees him shoot up 27 places in the current ranking order from 56 to 29.

Liam Adcock was even more impressive in his command of the men’s long jump final – producing an excellent series in conditions that were generally favourable for his event, at least. An 8.05m effort in round 2 was good enough to seal the Oceania title but he backed it up with exactly 8.00m in the sixth and final round. Both jumps were with legal wind.

Australia’s most experienced horizontal jumper, Henry Frayne took silver with a best of 7.82m to remain in sight of one of the 32 spots available for the Games. Adcock is now 24th in the order and can perhaps prepare for August with some confidence.

After being the slowest of the Aussies in the preliminary round of the men’s 400 metres, Luke Van Ratingen produced a surge over the final 50 metres to lead home a green and gold trifecta in 45.84 from Cooper Sherman (45.97) and Alex Beck (46.41).

But all three have work to do to make it to the start line in Paris in an event in which it may well take achieving the qualifying standard of 45.00 to make the entry list.

Queenslander Nash Lowis produced his best throw in five years in the javelin to lead another Australian clean sweep of the medals.

The 2018 World Under 20 champion finally showed his talent once again to steadily improve through the six rounds to stand atop the dais with 79.67m from Cam McEntyre (76.52m) and Cruz Hogan (70.90m).

McEntyre will be disappointed with the outcome, but it delivered no adverse implications for his journey to Paris as he remains ensconced in the top 20 for the event.

The challenge is much harder for Lowis who will now head to Europe in an attempt to replace his current lower scoring meets with much better results.

Day 6 also saw the Australians engaged proceed comfortably to the finals of the men’s 800m and the semi-finals of both 200m championships. Peyton Craig and Aidan Murphy were the top qualifiers for the men whilst Mia Gross was second on the women’s 200m list behind Papua New Guinea’s Leonie Beu. [Heats were not required for the women’s 800m].

But the most impressive over the half lap was Ipswich teenager Gout Gout who strode effortlessly to the line in the heats of the under 18 men’s 200m heats in a swift 21.06 (0.0).

Rounding out Australia’s senior championships success for the day were golds for Akeesha Snowden (class T37) and Julie Charlton (F57) in the para women’s ambulant 200m and seated javelin throw respectively.

By Brian Roe, Athletics Australia
Posted 06/06/2024