Crunch Time | Olympic qualifying period draws to a close
Published Tue 29 Jun 2021
June 29th 2021 is a date etched that has been etched into the diaries of track and field athletes across the world since the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. 910 days ago, the Olympic qualification began, and today it will finally close as athletes learn their fate after what has been one of the most tumultuous Games cycles the world has ever seen. But on the final day on which qualifying is possible, a handful of Australians will line up in Luzern, Switzerland for the Spitzen Leichtathletik meet with their fate in the balance.
Most notable of the Australians is 100m sprinter Hana Basic (John Nicolosi), who returned to the high-performance scene in emphatic fashion when flirting with the 11.15 Olympic standard throughout a dominant domestic season.
The 25-year-old registered a time of 11.14 at the first of two Oceania Athletics Invitational meets, but a +2.4 wind reading denied her the automatic qualifying standard – with her fastest legal time remaining at 11.18 (+2.0).
Four of the seven women in the field possess personal bests faster than Basic, with competition around her a welcomed change after her domestic campaign in which she rarely saw her competitors.
Basic has established herself as a fierce competitor fueled by ambition, and rest assured her focus will not be on crunching world ranking point numbers – merely tearing down the straight as fast as possible, trying to win and hoping the clock and wind gauge play nice.
If you want to know how well Australia’s middle-distance fleet are going, spare a thought for Matthew Ramsden (Nic Bideau) – a 3:34 1500m man who despite securing a qualifier, may struggle to secure a tracksuit for this year’s Olympic Games.
Ramsden has turned his attention to the 5000m in a bid to make his Olympic debut, with a herculean performance required from the 23-year-old tonight to do so – but a neat field has been assembled and Ramsden’s best would see him go close to the elusive 13:13.50 standard.
Stewart McSweyn (Nic Bideau) has withdrawn from the 5000m to focus on the 1500m, leaving a vacancy alongside qualified athletes Patrick Tiernan (Mark Rowland) and David McNeill (Nic Bideau) for the third Australian spot in the event.
With 42 men accepted into the field, Ramsden is ranked 41st and fellow Australian Morgan McDonald (Dathan Ritzenhein) ranked 31st – leaving selectors with a decision to make should Ramsden not secure the Olympic standard tonight yet remain in the quota.
Australia’s hurdling prospects come in the form of Hannah Jones (Sally Pearson) and Nicholas Andrews (Tim O’Neil) who have both made a last-minute dash overseas to defend their respective quota positions.
The pair have already raced once since touching down, with Jones taking a clutch win over the 100m hurdles in Leverkusen in a time of 13.06. Andrews was less fortunate in the 110m hurdles when crashing into the final two flights to run 14.05 and finish in fifth place.
The teams of both athletes would have been crunching the numbers all season, but tonight boils down to one simple equation – run as fast as possible and beat as many people as possible.
A deep field has been established in the men’s long jump including Chris Mitrevski (John Boas), Henry Frayne (Gary Bourne) and Darcy Roper (John Boas) flying the flag as Australian hopefuls - with Frayne currently the only athlete with a ranking inside the Olympic capacity of 32 athletes, sitting in 30th position.
Mitrevski has been the in-form man despite being ranked 36th, with a leap of 8.04m at the FBK Games the furthest by any Australian this season and nearing personal best territory. Meanwhile, Roper is 35th and has not jumped since Zatopek in January due to injury – but his 8.20m personal best is indicative of just how talented the 22-year-old Australian is.
The trio will undoubtedly be putting their country ties aside when competing tonight as they scrap for invaluable world ranking points on the eve of the close of the Olympic qualifying period.
Carley Thomas (Maurica Powell) has had this 800m race penciled into her schedule for months now – and the day is finally here.
The 20-year-old has been unseen since May when she ran a series of impressive races after last year’s well documented tubing accident which saw her break her left femur in two places.
Thomas’ best time of the season is 2:05.57 but that is a mark that can be expected to be lowered significantly in Luzern tonight, with the talented University of Washington student a genuine force when fit and firing.
Rorey Hunter (Dick Telford) has already run back-to-back 1500m personal bests in his international campaign and will be looking to make it a hat-trick when he toes the line in Luzern. His best currently stands at the 3:36.42 he mustered in France on June 19.
Jacinta Beecher (Gary Bourne) will line up in the 200m having won her first European race at the Kuortane Games in Finland over the weekend in a time of 23.41 (+0.5).
Meanwhile, Morgan Mitchell (Elizabeth Matthews) will have one final hit-out over 800m in Bankstown as she looks to strengthen her case to become a two-time Olympian.
The meet timetable can be found below, tune it to Athletics Australia socials this evening for livestream information.
2:32am – Women’s B 200m
3:26am – Men’s 1500m
3:38am – Men’s Long Jump
4:06am – Men’s 110m Hurdles
4:17am – Women’s 100m Hurdles
4:28am – Women’s 100m
4:46am – Women’s 800m
5:06am – Men’s 5000m
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 29/6/2021
