de Rozario Leads Marathon Weekend | Around the Grounds
Published Mon 24 Apr 2023
Paralympic champion Madison de Rozario has etched her name into history as a two-time winner of the London Marathon on a busy weekend for Australian distance racing, while the UniSport Nationals were run and won.
In a historic London Marathon battle at which only five-seconds separated the top four competitors, Madison de Rozario (Louise Sauvage) showed the world’s leading wheelchair racers a clean set of wheels as she pushed her way to her second victory at the prestigious event. Breaking the tape in 1:38:51 just one second ahead of Swiss rival and defending champion Manuela Schar, de Rozario pocketed the lucrative prize money to set up her 2023 World Para Athletics Championships campaign this July.
Australian record holder Brett Robinson (Nic Bideau) laid it all on the line when racing aggressively with the intention of recording his best Major Marathon result, successfully doing so with his seventh place finish in a time of 2:10:19. Feeling the pinch of the hot early pace, Robinson rallied in the closing stages to overtake Sir Mo Farah and better his eighth place finish from 2022.
Olympic Mum Ellie Pashley (Julian Spence) registered a run of 2:29:37 for 13th place in the women’s race, adding another showing to her name in 2023 after being the first Australian woman home with 19th place at her first World Athletics Cross Country Championships this February. Paralympic duo Jake Lappin (Fred Periac and Jamie Green) and Christie Dawes (Andrew Dawes) rounded out the Australian performances in London, finishing in seventh and 11th placings respectively in times of 1:35:11 and 1:51:32.
The marathon action was not restricted to London, as Andy Buchanan (Scott Westcott) returned to the Hamburg Marathon to become the equal ninth fastest Australian man in history, carving over two-minutes off his personal best to register a run of 2:10:20 for 11th place. The Bendigo product now has three career marathons to his name, with runs of 2:15:40, 2:12:23 and 2:10:20.
The 2023 UniSport National Track and Field Championships at Runaway Bay were home to a host of classy performances from the nation’s most athletic students, with reigning Australian champion Liam Adcock (The University of Queensland) setting the tone on Day One with a breakthrough 8.15m (+1.5) leap to take out the Men’s Long Jump.
It didn’t take long for the luckless Reece Holder (Queensland University of Technology) to follow suit, with the 20-year-old bouncing back from an injury at the Brisbane Track Classic to torch his way to a new personal best of 46.00 over 400m in blustery conditions. Making the most of that wind was Jai Gordon (University of Southern Queensland) who bolted to a new meet record 10.27 (+3.0), eclipsing the mark of 10.40 by Gary Eddy in the heats with a fitting tribute to the former Australian sprinter who was laid to rest that same day.
After clinching silver in the long jump at the Australian Championships, Alyssa Lowe (The University of Sydney) continued her rise to prominence with a leap of 6.36m (+0.3) to take out the UniSport Nationals title at 19-years-old. Bringing world-class credentials to the field was Olympic finalist and Commonwealth silver medallist Mackenzie Little (The University of Sydney) who threw 58.94m to go unchallenged in the Women’s Javelin, while Lara Roberts (Griffith University) took out the Hammer Throw with 60.14m and Roman Anastasios (The University of Melbourne) impressed with a 2.17m clearance in the Men’s High Jump.
Setting a pair of meet records in the Women’s 5000m Race Walk and Men’s 200m respectively were Hannah Mison (The University of Newcastle) and Lachlan Kennedy (The University of Queensland), with Mison walking her way to a white-hot 22:10.95 and Kennedy setting a new personal best of 20.93 (+1.7). Fresh off being selected for the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships to be held in Paris this July, Abby Craswell (Griffith University) took out the Women’s 100m Para in 15.06 (+2.6) to record a score of 90.84 on the BASELINE system – the highest of any Para athlete at the championships.
Beginning to translate her progress to the track, Zatopek:10 champion Leanne Pompeani (Des Proctor) dropped down to 5000m in at the Payton Jordan Invitational in California, impressing with a podium finish in third place when clocking 15:19.40. Also racing in California, Olympian Edward Trippas took out the Men's 3000m Steeplechase in a time of 8:31.40 as he progresses back to his best. Adding to the success of the Canberra-based squad, training partner turned Princeton product Duncan Miller (Princeton) set a new 1500m personal best of 3:40.61. Alexander Kolesnikoff (Harvard) continued his winning ways in the NCAA with a 19.81m effort in the shot put after breaking the 20m-barrier for the first time earlier this month.
Adding to the NCAA action, Jesse Hunt (North Carolina) punched in a swift 3:37.53 over 1500m, while Zachary Facioni (Wake Forest) shattered the 13-minute barrier over 5000m with a run of 13:27.71. s
Also posting strong form on the track over 12.5 laps was Lauren Ryan (Lara Rogers) who coasted to a time of 15:24.79 after being tasked with pacing 9:25 through 3000m, with the US-based Australian kicking down the final five laps after the field refused to take up the requested pace.
Over the half marathon distance in Gifu, Japan the Australian charge was led by Isobel Batt-Doyle (Nic Bideau) who completed the 21.1km journey in 1:10:16 to claim fifth place – just 19-seconds shy of the podium. Rose Davies (Scott Westcott) was the next Australian woman across the line in seventh place (1:10:53), followed by Genevieve Gregson (Nic Bideau) in eighth (1:11:57) as she lays the foundations of a future on the roads.
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 24/4/2023
