Denny delights with Australian record, Sultana crowned sprint king

The big stage calls for big performances and the country’s premier athletes delivered in mass on Day Three of the Chemist Warehouse Australian Athletics Championships, with discus king Matthew Denny delighting crowds with a national record and teenager Sebastian Sultana emerging as Australia’s fastest man.

Denny (QLD, Dale Stevenson) launched his way into the history books with a new Australian record of 69.35m in the Men’s Discus, as the reigning Diamond League champion laid down an emphatic statement ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Producing the effort in the fifth round amid a world-class sequence, Denny cruised to his seventh Australian title in the event and added over one-metre to his previous record, staking his claim for a maiden major championships medal after a series of near misses in recent years.

“I have said before that my focus is to win the Olympics and I feel like a lot of people haven’t really taken that too seriously, which is fair enough considering I’m fourth in the order right now,” Denny said.

“Everyone knows I’m no BS when it comes to majors. I’m there to compete and to win medals and try to win championships.”

18-year-old sprint sensation Sebastian Sultana (NSW, Greg Smith) stunned the crowd to be crowned Australia’s fastest man, stretching away from the field in the Men’s 100m with a 10.27 (-1.2) run to win in style ahead of Joshua Azzopardi (NSW, Rob Marks, 10.39) and Jacob Despard (TAS, Rolf Ohman, 10.41), as well as Olympic semi-finalist Rohan Browning (NSW, Andrew Murphy, 10.41) who fell short of the podium in fourth place.

Finding time to celebrate across the line, the teenager secured the breakthrough win after posting a run of 10.17 (+1.4) in the semi-finals earlier in the day:

“I try to just focus on myself and work on my execution. It’s a major confidence boost, I knew I could do it but I just had to put the race together. My goal and focus is World Relays and then potentially the Olympics and World Juniors later on in the year,” Sultana said.

Hitting top gear in time for the Women’s 100m final, Naa Anang (QLD, Bronwyn Thompson) struck gold in 11.34 (-0.6) for her first national title since 2019, finishing ahead of Ella Connolly (NSW, Andrew Murphy, 11.37) and Ebony Lane (VIC, Matt Carter, 11.41).

World Championships semi-finalist Adam Spencer (VIC, Mick Byrne) kick-started his Olympic campaign when toppling the the biggest names in the Australian middle-distance ranks in the Men’s 1500m to claim gold in 3:37.68, narrowly beating home Oliver Hoare (NSW, Dathan Ritzenhein, 3:37.83) and Jesse Hunt (WA, Craig Mottram, 3:37.88).

“If you told me 12 months ago that I was going to have this sort of year, I wouldn’t have believed you. I actually won my first national title on this track 10 years ago and it’s all been about increasing training slightly every year,” Spencer said.

The domestic dominance rolled on for Jessica Hull (NSW, Simon Hull) who proved a class above in the Women’s 1500m, stopping the clock in a new championship record of 4:01.39 to fend off challengers Georgia Griffith (VIC, Nic Bideau, 4:03.68) and Linden Hall (VIC, Ned Brophy-Williams, 4:05.03).

Also igniting the field was pole vault world champion Nina Kennedy (WA, Paul Burgess & James Fitzpatrick), who returned to the national stage for the first time since her Budapest triumph, soaring over 4.65m off a short approach to secure yet another Australian title.

“I jumped off 12 steps. It’s a medium run for me because I’m coming off a back stress fracture after last season, so to come out and also jump close to my best is a nice confidence booster,” Kennedy said.

“Doha Diamond League and Marrakech Diamond League are next for me, and that will be the first time I’ve seen the girls since last year. I’m coming in good shape and I hope they’re a little scared.”

Ella Hose (VIC, John Eden, F37) added 20-centimetres to her own F37 national record with a 11.15m performance in the Women’s Ambulant Shot Put for a Paralympic ‘B’ qualifying performance, as high jumper Yual Reath (VIC, Paul Cleary) delivered a 2.29m clearance before falling shy of the 2.33m Olympic qualifying standard and Mackenzie Little (NSW, Angus McEntyre) took out the Women’s Javelin title with a 61.85m effort.

A pair of slick 400m races saw two athletes win their first national Open titles, as Ellie Beer (QLD, Brett Robinson) raced to a convincing victory in 51.59, while Cooper Sherman (VIC, Neville Down) saluted with a 45.89 performance.

Rhiannon Clarke (WA, Danny Kevan, T38) and Chad Perris (ACT, Matt Beckenham, T11) bolted to gold in the 100m Ambulant events, clocking times of 12.86 (+2.2) and 11.02 (-1.1) for scores of 96.26 and 94.91 respectively on the BASELINE system.

Delta Amidzovski (NSW, Becky Amidzovski & Roger Fabri) clocked a swift 13.31 (-1.7) in the Under 20 Women’s 100m, while 16-year-old Izobelle Louison-Roe (NSW, Karen Roe) soared over 1.85m to take out the Women’s Under 20 High Jump and Gout Gout (QLD, Diane Sheppard) set the Under 20 200m alight in 20.97 (-1.0).

Full results from Day Three can be found HERE.

The final day of the Open and Under 20 half of the Australian Athletics Championships continue tomorrow from 9am ACST and will be streamed on 7plus from 9.50am ACDT.

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 13/4/2024