Clutch Lowis Opens Aussie Account | Pacific Games Day One

The National Stadium in Honiara, Solomon Islands was a sea of colour for the opening day of athletics action at the 2023 Pacific Games, as Nash Lowis delivered a golden finish in the javelin and heptathlete Mia Scerri piled on the points.

2018 World Under 20 champion Nash Lowis (Lukas Cannon) returned to the top of the podium in style on Day One in the Solomon Islands, launching the javelin 74.40m in the sixth and final round to advance from the bronze medal position to gold.

Sitting on a distance of 64.28m after four rounds, the 24-year-old started to find his feet in the fifth round with a 69.45m effort, before improving again on his last attempt to be crowned the 2023 Pacific Games champion and open Australia’s account in athletics.

"My coach at the end of my fifth throw told me to stop thinking about it and just go out there and throw. On the sixth one I was able to pluck it out when it counted," Lowis said.

"I was very pleased I was able to chuck on the green and gold."

Personal bests in the High Jump (1.77m), 100m Hurdles (14.54-seconds) and Shot Put (13.70m) propelled Mia Scerri (Darren Clark) to the lead of the Women’s Heptathlon after Day One of competition, with the 18-year-old sitting clear on 3430 points.

With her strongest event in the Long Jump still to come on Day Two of competition in Honiara, Scerri will continue her pursuit of the 5300 point qualifying mark for the 2024 World Under 20 Championships in Lima, Peru – well on track to achieve the feat and shatter the Pacific Games record of 5037 points.

A rising trio of Australian sprinters safely progressed to tomorrow’s 100m Finals, with Georgia Harris (Paul Pearce), Lachlan Kennedy (Andrew Iselin) and Calab Law (Andrew Iselin) enjoying two runs each at the National Stadium in Honiara.

Harris delivered a consistent pair of runs topped by an 11.82 (0.0) performance to win Semi-Final 1, while Kennedy looked supreme when racing to a tidy 10.34 (+1.1) in his Heat and Law opened his campaign with second place in Semi-Final 3 with a run of 10.66 (-1.0) behind Papua New Guinea’s Pais Wisil (10.63).  

Edging ahead in a blanket finish over 800m, Jack Lunn (Steve Fabris) took line honours in Heat 1 of the Men’s 800m when stopping the clock in 1:53.35. The time makes the 22-year-old Australian the fastest qualifier for Day Two’s Final, where he will meet New Zealand pair Jack Paine and Liam O’Donnell, and Fiji’s Vishant Reddi.

Setting the tone in the first event of the Championships, Isabella Guthrie (Angus McEntyre) coasted to victory in Heat 1 of the Women’s 400m Hurdles, returning to the track for the first time since April with a run of 59.48 to book her spot in Friday’s Final.  

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 27/11/2023