Cloud Nine for Olympic Medallists Olyslagers and Patterson

For the first time, Australia has two medallists in the same field event at the Olympic Games thanks to the high-flying duo of Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson, who stole the show in Paris as sprinter Reece Holder rose to number two on the Australian all-time list over 400m. 

Nicola Olysagers (NSW, Matt Horsnell) has won back-to-back Olympic silver medals and Eleanor Patterson (NSW, Alex Stewart) has taken bronze in the Women’s High Jump at Paris 2024.

Nicola jumped 2.00m on her third attempt and at 2.02 metres she had three attempts to almost snatch the gold. She was beaten on a countback with Ukrainian world record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh.

Eleanor cleared a season’s best of 1.95m and shared the bronze with Iryna Gerashchenko also of Ukraine. There will be four athletes from two nations on the podium when the medals are awarded tomorrow.

“I had so much joy tonight. I have a following at home that were watching and maybe expecting a lot of things from me. But even under that pressure, I actually saw that and rather than shrink back from performing I feel like with that two meter jump I rose to the occasion. So it was really beautiful,” Nicola said.

Nicola also becomes the only Australian field athlete to win a medal at consecutive Olympics.

“I wanted Paris to be really special but there were times when I didn't believe that I could be in the best shape in my life at the Olympics. But love pushed me to actually go, you know what? I love God enough to know that I can believe when he says, you're gonna be okay, and then there's times when you're doing your training, but if you don't have hope, it doesn't actually fill you it doesn't push you in that extra bit that helped me.

As she did in qualifying, Eleanor easily cleared 1.95m, a season's best, and looked like she would go much higher in the Olympic final. But she just clipped 1.98m on all three occasions. She had her head in her hands, thinking she had missed a medal until Iryna missed and they were joint bronze medallists.

“I'm in a lot of disbelief, especially the disappointment of not clearing 1.98 and kind of the self-analysis that you can't help but have as an athlete,” Eleanor said.

“You always want more, and I know I've got a lot more in me as far as my performance and my jumps but then to come away with the bronze, I'm so, so proud.

“This has been a dream from when I was an eight-year-old, when I first stepped on the track at Little Aths as a little girl, this very shy girl, who has been obsessed with athletics from a very young age and now I’m an Olympic medalist, so it’s very exciting.”

The pair created history at the 2023 World Championships as the first Australians to share a podium in an individual event, when Eleanor won silver and Nicola the bronze.

“Obviously, it was wonderful to share the podium with Nicola last year, but it's an Olympics it's the big dance. And so this is really, really special,” Eleanor said.

“We've grown up together, jumping together in a lot of ways. We're the same age and to be able to compete against each other and to be able to push each other to this level and to really take it to the world, it's pretty cool that's for sure.”

Eleanor trains with coach Alex Stewart and training partner Brandon Starc in Sydney. She won the World Championships in 2022 before getting back on the podium in 2023.

“My career has been anything but linear, but I've definitely established myself as a performer at a major. Even today, as much as I didn't come away with my best, I'm still so proud to come away with an Olympic medal,” Eleanor said.

Reece Holder (QLD, Chris Dale and Sharon Dale) has announced himself on the world stage. Making his Olympic debut, the 21-year-old ran a personal best of 44.53 seconds to finish third in his 400m heat to automatically progress to the semi-finals. 

He is now the second-fastest Australian of all time, and only Darren Clark’s Australian record of 44.38 in the semi-final of Seoul 1988 has been quicker by an Aussie at the Olympics. Clark was fourth in Seoul and Los Angeles 1984.  

“That's my race plan to go out hard,” Reece said. 

“So I came into the home straight and I was a bit further in front than I thought. I looked and saw Quincy and then because of my lookover, my form kind of deteriorated, but I’m through to the semis, so that's all that really matters.”

Also on the track, 800m runners Abbey Caldwell (VIC, Gavin Burren) and Claudia Hollingsworth (VIC, Craig Mottram) raced bravely in the semi-finals 

Abbey almost forced her way into the final finishing fifth in semi-final one in a time of 1:58.52.

It was a gutsy and impressive run from the 23-year-old. This was her third hard race in three days, after she had to come through the repechage round.

“It sounds so cliche, but it really is a childhood dream and to be able to go out there and actually execute and put yourself as a competitor, rather than just getting onto the track,” Abbey said.

In semi-final three, Claudia couldn’t reproduce her great heat run and finished seventh in 2:01.51. 

Torrie Torrie (QLD, Andrew Iselin) lived up to her title as the rising star of Australian sprinting, clocking a career-best 22.89 (+1.4) in her 200m heat. The 19-year-old was fourth and narrowly missed an automatic advance to the women’s 200m semi-finals.

“I was glad to have the French girl in my race, it made it a great experience for everyone,” Lewis said.

“I’ve just got to go and run it [the repechage]. I’m pretty sure you have to win, so we’ll see.”

In heat four, Mia Gross (VIC, John Nicolosi) ran 23.36 (0.0) to place sixth and like Lewis looks ahead to the repechage. There are four repechage heats, with first in each and and next two fastest to advance to Semi-Final.

In the women’s 3000m steeplechase, Cara Feain-Ryan (QLD, Ben Norton) made up for the disappointment of missing Tokyo 2020 by running a personal best on Olympic debut.

Cara did not progress to the final, but her time of 9:28.72 gives her confidence that she’s headed in the right direction on the global stage, after also clocking a then best time at the World Athletics Championships last year.

Teammate Amy Cashin (VIC, Sean Cleary) lined up in the third heat, stopping the clock at 9:32.93 to place 9th after hitting a steeple in the first lap and recovering to finish the race with an aching leg.

Tayleb Willis (VIC, Kyle Vander-Kuyp and Sam Leslie) ran well in his first big international meet to finish fifth in the 110m Hurdles clocking 13.63s (+0.7). He was racing his idol triple world champion Grant Halloway (USA) and Perth-born Sasha Zhoya (FRA) who helped him as a junior.

Alanah Yukich (WA, Rose Monday) and Sarah Carli (NSW, Melissa Smith) raced well in their Women’s 400m Hurdles heats but both were overtaken from the auto-qualification spots in the final 50 metres of their respective races. 

Alanah faded to seventh in 55.46s but entered the straight not far behind Dutch superstar Femke Bol. Sarah was sixth in her heat with 55.92s.

It was a disappointing day for Chris Mitrevski (VIC, Alex Stewart) and Liam Adcock (QLD, Andrew Murphy) in long jump qualifying with both struggling to fly like they can when fully fit. Chris’s training had been restricted coming into the Games due to injury and Liam was also impacted with an injury today.

Also bowing out in qualifying was hammer thrower Stephanie Ratcliffe (VIC, Don Babbitt) who produced a clutch third-round throw of 70.07m after opening with two fouls, but ultimately fell less than a metre shy of the final when finishing 15th across the groups with the top-12 to advance.

By Andrew Reid, Athletics Australia and Australian Olympic Committee
Posted 5/08/2024