Experience to help put Gregson in line for London final
Published Fri 04 Aug 2017
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Olympic finalist Ryan Gregson (Vic) will lead a strong Australian distance team at the London world championships with a number of athletes capable of placing well in the English capital.
The 27-year-old will compete in the 1500m at his fourth world championships twelve months after appearing in his first final at a major championships in Rio. Gregson was the Australian male in 40 years to make an Olympic 1500m final last August.
A competitive season so far in the Diamond League series and a recent personal best over 3000m should have Gregson confident of progressing out of the heats and beyond.
The Australian 1500m record holder has run six of his eight fastest times over the metric mile in the past year and a bit.
He will be joined by Melbourne Track Club teammates Luke Mathews (Vic), the reigning 800m national champion, and Jordan
Further up in distance will be in-form former Villanova student Patrick Tiernan (Qld) who will contest both the 10,000m and 5000m in the same field as local favourite and defending champion Mo Farah (
Tiernan has posted personal bests this season in every distance on the track up from the 1500m and plans to be with the front pack in the 10,000m at the business end of the race.
In 2017, Tiernan has set PBs in all six of his races on the track, including his world championships qualifiers of 13:13.44 in the 5000m and 27:29.81 in the 10,000m.
Also completing the gruelling 25 laps of the track inside Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is distance duo Madeline Hills (NSW) and Eloise Wellings (NSW).
Wellings placed tenth over the distance at the Rio Olympics last year while steeplechaser Hills makes her 10,000m debut at
Both women will also contest the 5000m along with reigning three-time 1500m national champion Heidi See (NSW) who has widened her range on the track with success this season.
The three women lining up in the 1500m heats include debutant Georgia Griffith (Vic) who is in the middle of a breakout season that has seen the 20-year-old dramatically improve over two laps and the metric mile.
Sixth place-getter at the 2013 world championships Zoe Buckman (Vic), who has made the semi final of the last two Olympics, will also run along with semi-finalist from Rio Linden Hall (Vic).
Hall has raced a total of six Diamond Leagues this season which has seen the Essendon-based athlete find her racing form after a reasonable start to the Australian domestic season.
In the women’s marathon Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Jess Trengove (SA), who placed 11th at the championships in 2013, will compete alongside Olympian Milly Clark (NSW) and Beijing 2015 representative Sinead Diver (Vic).
Tiernan will return to the track in the 5000m with Olympian Sam McEntee (WA) and last-minute qualifier Morgan McDonald (NSW) who recently launched himself up the Australian all-time rankings to snatch his first senior shirt.
Nitro Athletics Team Australia co-captain Genevieve LaCaze (Vic) has successfully returned from injury in time for the world championships.
The Melbourne Track Club athlete took great steps forward in 2016. On 17 occasions last year Gen bettered her personal best times across five different distances, resulting in two Olympic finals in the steeplechase and 5000m - finishing 9th and 12th respectively - and setting a new Australian record for the 3000m steeplechase by more than six seconds at the Paris Diamond League in 9:14.28.
Returning to London five years after she made her Olympic debut
LaCaze will compete in her favoured steeplechase event alongside Victoria Mitchell (NSW) who will start in her third world championships since debuting in 2007.
Sudanese-born Australian Peter Bol (Vic) returns to the international scene just twelve months after making his Olympic debut in Rio and will again contest the 800m, this time as Australia’s only competitor in the event.
Following a very strong season of development for young Tasmanian runner Stewart McSweyn the lanky youngster was rewarded with a roll-down spot on the team in the 3000m steeplechase.
All three men in the marathon will be making their debut in a senior Australian team with Jack Colreavy (NSW), Josh Harris (Tas) and Brad Milosevic (NSW) taking to the streets of London.
Three women take on the 800m in London including Griffith, three-time national champion Brittany McGowan (Qld) and reigning Australian champion Lora Storey (NSW).