Bird Smith and Montag book their tickets to Tokyo, winning the Australian 20km Race Walking Championships

Dane Bird-Smith (QLD) and Jemima Montag have won the men’s and women’s the Oceania and Australian 20km Race Walking Championships (respectively) in Adelaide.

As both already had raced the automatic qualifying time (men -1:21.00, women 1:31.00), Bird-Smith walked 1:20.52 in February 2019 and Montag walked 1:30.51 at the same time, winning the National Championships means they secure themselves an automatic nomination to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Bird-Smith who actually finished in third place with 1:23.01 behind Perseus Karlstrom (Sweden) in 1:21.57 and Evan Dunfee (Canada),in 1:22.32, said:

“Getting the automatic nomination (to Tokyo 2020) was the game plan today , so I just got out there and tried to stick with an even pace, off a kind of curbed training block – so I’m just happy to be able to get the job done and focus on the remainder of the year now,”

Talking about how he is going to prepare for the Tokyo Olympic Games from here:

“It’s just going to be basic training blocks, working these two week block for the next few months.

“I’m a little bit behind the 8-ball but I know I can get it done when it counts,” Bird-Smith said.

Jemima Montag won the women’s race in  1:33.15, in second was her team mate and training partner Katie Hayward in 1:34.00 and third Beki Smith with 1:35.06.

After securing a Tokyo 2020 Olympic automatic nomination, Montag said:

“It’s a surreal feeling, a big childhood dream come true, my first Olympics, so a brilliant early birthday present and a huge relief,” Montag said.

“It was warm, much warmer than expected but today was more about position for me rather than time, so the pace was very very conservative – we went off at 4:45, instead of the usual 4:30, which really allowed me to stay calm and focus on staying cool and relaxed and it was all really a mental challenge but toward the end I saw my moment and tried to kick home,” she added.

For 18km of the 20km journey, Montag and Hayward were neck and neck, speaking about they train and race together Montag said:

“We didn’t have a plan as such, we are great team mates and training partners – so we were encouraging each other through the race to stay tough and keep up the pace but the fantastic thing is that there are always two to three spots on the team – so we can push each other to improve, which is really exciting,” Montag said.

The Event also hosted the U20 Oceania and Australian Race Walking Championships, both the men and women’s races were 10km – the men’s was taken out by South Australian Tristan Camilleri in 44:44, in second place was Gwyllym Young (ACT) with 45:01 and in third was Corey Dickson (VIC) with 45:40.

The women’s race was won by Rebecca Henderson (VIC) in 48:23, in second was Caitlin Hannigan (QLD) with 49:39 and in third was Alanna Peart (VIC).