Dubler Dominates Festive Season Decathlon

As most begin to settle into the holiday season, Australian athletics is only picking up speed. A 8334 point decathlon from Cedric Dubler led an action-packed weekend as Seth Kennedy rewrote the Australian Under 16 400m record and the nation's Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls dialed up their performances aroudn the country. 

The Queensland Combined Event Championships served as a battleground for Australia’s decathlon titans two-time Commonwealth medallist Cedric Dubler (Chris Gaviglio) and Olympic bronze medallist Ash Moloney (Steve Rippon) went head-to-head in their pursuit of the Paris 2024 qualifying standard.

Amidst the fervor of competition, Dubler took the state title, culminating the ten events with a score of 8334, marking his third highest tally ever recorded. His attack of the decathlon was punctuated by personal bests in the Long Jump, with 7.90m marking his first personal best in the field event since his performance at the 2014 World Under 20 Championships.

“Unfortunately the qualifier slipped away, as did the PB but this will all still help me set up really well for next year’s Olympics,” Dubler said on his Instagram.

Meanwhile, Moloney embarked on equally promising quest, accumulating a total of 4,377 points after Day 1, with a new personal best of 7.77m in the long jump. For Moloney, the demands of the decathlon took a toll, as the two-time global medallist was forced to withdraw after five events, citing his ongoing patellar tendonitis issues.

Camryn Newton-Smith became just Australia’s eighth heptathlete to total more than 6000 points over seven events, when scoring 6,050. The 23-year-old posted three legal career-bests in the High Jump (1.80m), Shot Put (12.95m), and 800m (2:22.92), as well as a wind-assisted best in the 200m, to total the highest score by an Australian for 15 years and become the sixth best of all time.

A week after claiming All Schools glory in the U16 400m, Seth Kennedy (Brett Robinson) returned to the track to complete some unfinished business. Having narrowly missed out on the Australian U16 record of 47.99 last week, Kennedy left nothing to chance, clocking 47.94, to become just the second 15-year-old to break the 48-second barrier.

Over in the nation’s capital, Australia’s para athletes made progress on their path to the Paris Paralympics, as two-time Paralympic gold medallist Vanessa Low (T61, Scott Reardon) led the way with a wind-assisted 5.11m in the long jump, adding to her 5.13m qualifier last month.

Fellow long jumper Ari Gesini (T38, Sebastian Kuzminski) achieved a B qualifier with a 6.38m leap, while World Para Athletics Championships representative Abby Craswell (T36, Andrew Craswell) achieved her fastest time yet over 100m, crossing the line in 14.53 for a B qualifier to round out the year.

By Sascha Ryner, Athletics Australia
Posted: 18/12/2023