Emerging Talent Get Set for European Tour

An emerging crop of Australian track and field talent will have their development bolstered, with a 25-strong contingent set to gain high level international experience from Athletics Australia’s European U20 & U23 tour.

A key piece of Athletics Australia’s Pathway Strategy which aims to nurture the country’s developing talent, the Under-20 and Under-23 Tours will provide athletes with crucial international competition opportunities, and other learning objectives including training periodisation and the ability to deal with long distance travel and different climates. The Under-20 Tour will see 17 athletes compete at the England Athletics U20 Championships (June 17-18) and the Manheim U20 International Gala (June 24-25), with the squad featuring three members of the Australian team at the 2022 World Under 20 Championships in Cali, Colombia – Darcy Miller (Discus), Ryan Tarrant (200m) and Txai Anglin (400m).

Fresh off a breakthrough domestic campaign which saw him win the coveted Stawell Gift and set personal bests over both 100m (10.48) and 200m (20.95), Tarrant finds himself eager to capitalise on his second international experience, after heartbreak on debut in Cali:

“At World Juniors, I learned a lot, but it wasn’t super successful. After the relay I was pretty bummed out because I was in Colombia and our team just got disqualified. I wouldn’t call this one a shot at redemption, but it is another chance to show what I’ve got,” Tarrant said.

“I thought I would have to wait at least three years until I would be back on the international stage. I would love to crack into the 10.3 [100m] and 20.8 [200m] territory, but the biggest part of it for me personally is travelling internationally and getting in the zone for racing because I know how hard that can be. I struggled with that last year.”

With the 17 teenagers covering a spread of 12 events, the versatile group represents a strong cross section of the nation’s rising stars ahead of a golden decade of Australian athletics featuring the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games and 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games.   

The Under-23 Tour features eight athletes bound for up to three competitions, spearheaded by the England Athletics U23 Championships (June 17-18), providing crucial experience to some of Australia’s rising stars who were denied international debuts throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

A member of Australia’s non-traveling 2021 World Under 20 Championships team, Reece Holder’s (400m) persistence is rewarded with the first international appearance of his career fresh off a 46.00-second personal best, while 2021 teammate Jaylah Hancock-Cameron (1500m) will complete the tour for the second year running.

“Last year was a good learning experience because a lot of the places we stayed didn’t have great facilities to cook or store food, but the racing over there was pretty good so I’m excited to give it another crack,” Hancock Cameron said.

“It was obviously disappointing to not be able to go to Kenya [2021 World Under 20 Championships], but this team gives us a nice little pathway and is a good way to ease us into Opens and make that transition really smooth. I just want to get as fast as possible and start to contend for those teams.”

Elaborating on the purpose of the tour Athletics Australia’s Pathways Transition Lead, Adam Didyk spoke to the significance of the opportunity for athletes transitioning to the elite level of the Open ranks.

“The aim is to assist athletes and coaches in being able to double periodise their training year in preparation for senior elite performance, and to ensure athletes are comfortable outside of their home environment. We found on last year’s tour that athletes became more comfortable with each meet and were able to deliver the performances that they needed to,” Didyk said.  

“We know that athletes are going to have to travel long distances to compete at major championships, and this gives them an insight into what some of those requirements are. This tour gives them an opportunity to trial it at this stage and then execute at a high level with a great deal more pressure.”

Athletes will depart for the U20 & U23 European Tours in early June, with the full team list to be found below and more information to be found HERE.

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia

Posted: 3/5/2022