Day Six: London finals the aim for Stratton, LaCaze

Despite spending a big portion of her time after finishing seventh at the Olympics injured on the sidelines, Brooke Stratton (Vic) will be aiming for a spot in the long jump final in London.

Two years ago at the world championships in Beijing the now 24-year-old missed the final by only a few centimetres, but has since developed into a consistent world-class jumper.

Her personal best, which is the national record, sits at 7.05 metres, a jump well and truly capable of winning a medal given only two women have gone beyond seven metres this year.

Stratton’s best jump this season of 6.79m was achieved at the London Diamond League last month, ranking her equal ninth in the world coming in to the championships.

Favourites to win the title will be American pair Brittney Reese and Tianna Bartoletta who both have leapt beyond the seven-metre mark twice this season.

Bartoletta is the defending champion who two years ago produced a 7.14m jump on her last attempt in Beijing to turn a bronze medal into gold.

Also representing Australia in the long jump is Naa Anang (Qld) who recently recorded a personal best that gained her entry to the championships via an IAAF roll-down invitation.

Early last month the 22-year-old, who won a bronze medal at the 2015 World University Games, jumped 6.68m in Switzerland. 

Today marks my last session in Ávila. I'll miss the perfect weather, fantastic facilities, accommodating locals, beautiful trails and of course the hot track! Thank you to the town & all that helped make this training camp so successful. Ready to join back up with the rest of my team. #MTC #Ávila . . 📸 @james_kaan

A post shared by G E N E V I E V E • LA C A Z E (@gengen_lacaze) on Aug 4, 2017 at 2:37pm PDT

In the women’s 3000m steeplechase Genevieve LaCaze (Vic) will be aiming to qualify for the final despite a long injury lay off during the European season.

The national record holder, who celebrated turning 28 just a few days ago, has not run a steeplechase since clocking 9:37.10 earlier in the season at the Doha Diamond League.

LaCaze placed ninth in the final at the Rio Olympics last year and will be joined in the field by compatriot Victoria Mitchell (NSW) who is competing in her third world championships after making her debut a decade ago in Osaka.

Three Australian men toe the line in the 5000m heats including Patrick Tiernan (Qld), who returns to the track inside the Olympic Stadium after a disappointing result on day one in the 10,000m final.

He has clocked personal bests on the track from 1500m to 10,000m this season including a 13:13.44 performance putting him fourth on Australia’s all-time rankings list.

Joining him will be national champion Sam McEntee (WA) who recently set a personal best of 13:17.55 and Morgan McDonald (NSW) who put himself in contention to qualify for the championships right before the deadline with a big personal best of 13:15.83 in Belgium.