Emerging Stars Shine | Weekend Review

Australia’s top sprinters descending upon Queensland, a standout middle-distance performance, and more international success – the athletics season is in full swing.  

Abbey Caldwell (Gavin Burren) looked to be in ominous form at last weekend’s Victorian Championships with a series of 800m personal bests, but a run of 4:04.79 over 1500m in Bankstown on Saturday night confirmed that the 20-year-old is ready to take the next step in her young career.

Paced through 800m by New South Wales junior Jaylah Hancock-Cameron (Andrea Kalemusic), Caldwell launched over the final 700m to narrowly miss the 4:04.20 World Athletics Championships and Commonwealth Games standard – still becoming the youngest Australian woman in history to break 4:05 over the distance.

Two-time Olympian Kurtis Marschall (Paul Burgess) is hitting his straps in Europe ahead of the World Athletics Indoor Championships, building on his early-season jumps of 5.71m to clear 5.76m in Paris and win silver.

The 24-year-old will be looking to emulate the form of his 5.87m personal best in the remaining weeks on the indoor circuit as he looks to set up his 2022 outdoor campaign, stating his intentions to compete as often as possible in the blockbuster year.

In Rome and it the quiet achieving Tim Vincent (Jackson Elliot) who took home 12^th place in a world-class field at the Rome Half Marathon, clocking 1:01:43 for the 21.km journey. The race bolsters Vincent’s international experience ahead of this weekend’s World University Cross Country Championships to be held in Portugal, where the 23-year-old will make his Australian debut.

Liz Clay (Sharon Hannan) made a habit of shattering the 13-second barrier in the 100m hurdles in 2021, and 2022 is shaping up to a similar fate after she rolled out a 12.97 (-0.6) to win at the Queensland State Championships.

Clay will take confidence from the run as she approaches this weekend’s Sydney Track Classic and next weekend’s World Athletics Indoor Championships, with the hurdler eager to build on the form that took her to the doorstep of the Olympic final in Tokyo.  

The rejuvenated Ella Connolly (Mark Ladbrook) continues to set the standard for Australia’s female sprinters in these early months of 2022, stretching away from quality fields to clinch state titles in both the 100m and 200m – clocking 11.25 (-0.5) and 22.95 (+0.6) respectively.

Connolly managed to hold off 17-year-old Torrie Lewis (Gerrard Keating) in the battle down the straight, with the rising junior coming agonisingly close to her personal best when running 11.35 – now holding the six world junior qualifiers and the six fastest times run by Australian female juniors this season.

Hana Basic (John Nicolosi) took another positive step forward to secure bronze in 11.42 after a slow start to the season by her lofty standards, with the Tokyo Olympian putting any injury woes behind her as she warms into a big year on the international circuit.

Connolly went largely untroubled in the 200m final, but a heat run of 23.18 (-0.9) from Lewis saw her eclipse Riley Day’s (Paul Pearce) Queensland Under 18 state record – just another feather in the cap for the rapid junior.

Paralympic star Isis Holt (Paul Pearce, T35) delivered a slick double of 13.81 (+0.2) and 29.37 (0.0) in the 100m and 200m respectively, joining in on the sprinting action and kick-starting her 2022 campaign.

Meanwhile, 15-year-old Zara Hagan achieved a world junior qualifier of 11.89 (+0.2) as she broke the 12-second barrier for the first time – establishing herself as one to watch in the coming years.

The tone was set by the women but the fast men were also up to the task, with 18-year-old Calab Law (Andrew Iselin) producing one of the runs of the day with a stunning 20.67 (+0.3) performance over 200m – a Queensland Under 20 state record.

Law dismantled a classy open men’s field when charging to victory, beating home Alexander Hartmann (Travis Venema) who stopped the clock in 20.73, and Christopher Ius (Andrew Murphy) with his 20.79 good enough for third place.

The race saw five men break 21-seconds in what was a prelude to the national championships later this month, but they will have to find an extra stride or two to chase down Adelaide youngster Aidan Murphy (Peter Fitzgerald) – who leads the way with 20.41 this season.

In the 100m it was Josh Azzopardi (Rob Marks) who set a scorching new personal best of 10.30 (+1.0) en route to victory, finishing ahead of Ius (10.35) and Hartmann (10.36). The breakthrough sets up a big year for Azzopardi as he looks to break into senior Australian lineups.

In the field it was Samantha Dale (Andrew Murphy) who leapt her way to seventh place on the Australian all time list, with the 20-year-old recording a distance of 6.70m in the long jump – a 38cm personal best. The substantial improvement launches her into the upper echelon of women’s long jumping within Australia, with a farther 12cm to find to hit the World Athletics Championships and Commonwealth Games standard.

Callum Davies (Collis Birmingham) completed a four-peat of state titles in the 1500m when denying 16-year-old Peyton Craig a triumphant victory, prevailing in a time of 3:43.47 to Craig’s 3:44.07 – a time that makes Craig the fastest Australian Under 20 to date this season.

At the Summer Down Under in Canberra, Chad Perris (Matt Beckenham, T13) clocked 11.09 (+1.0) in the 100m to finish ahead of  Jaydon Page (Sebstian KuzminskI, T47) in 11.10, as many of Australia’s Paralympians relished the opportunity to race on their home track.

Jake Lappin (Fred Periac, T54) and Sam Carter (Fed Periac, T54) were exceptional over 1500m as they set swift marks of 3:00.75 and 3:02.80 respectively, pushing each other to the limit in a strong showing.

South Australia's Darcy Miller (Steve Larsson) launched the discus 2.5m farther than he has ever before to record a result of 58.66m, qualifying him for the World Athletics Under 20 Championships in Colombia. 

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 7/03/2022