Feain-Ryan leads a golden night at the World University Games
Published Sat 05 Aug 2023
Two of Australia’s most experienced campaigners at the 2023 World University Games have added to the UniRoos growing medal tally on Day 4 of competition, with Cara Feain-Ryan crowned as the Women’s 3000m Steeplechase champion followed by Georgia Winkcup taking bronze.
World Athletics Championships representative Cara Feain-Ryan (Ben Norton, University of Queensland) clinched Australia’s 56th gold medal at the Games, storming to victory in the Women’s 3000m Steeplechase in 9:46.02.
With 300m to go, the Australian found herself in second position and 50 metres behind Turkiye’s Semra Karaslan but tapped into an extra reservoir of energy to take command. With each stride, she began closing the gap, showing no signs of losing momentum or slowing down and overtook her rival after the third-to-last barrier.
Feain-Ryan found a final burst of speed continuing to widen the gap over the final two barriers, eventually finishing 20 metres ahead of Karaslan (9:50.42) and Australian Olympian Georgia Winkcup (Ben Liddy, College of Law) who rounded out the podium in 9:51.22.
“I’m so happy to have taken home the gold medal! I knew conditions would be tough coming into this race with the heat and humidity but I’m really proud I was able to execute my race plan and stay relaxed in the middle stages when I was running on my own,” Feain-Ryan said.
“The crowd in the stadium was electric and definitely helped push me to the line. Sharing the podium with my fellow Aussie and my roommate Georgia (Winkcup) was really special. I haven’t had a lot of international racing experience so this result really means a lot to me and I know it will give me a lot of confidence moving forward.
“I’m so grateful to my coaches, family and the rest of my support team back home, even though I wasn’t able to share last night with them in person, I couldn’t have gotten this result without them.”
Finishing a fantastic fifth in the Women’s 200m was Kristie Edwards (David Reid, Charles Sturt University) who powered her way through the semi-final in 23.48 (+1.2) to secure a non-automatic qualifying spot, and then surged forward in the final with another consistent performance in 23.54 (+0.6).
In continuing her breakthrough season, Edwards said: “This week has been an amazing experience. I have been fortunate to wear the green and gold before, but this championships was the first time I’ve done so in an individual event. The atmosphere and crowd was incredible.”
Carla Bull (Brett Robinson, Griffith University) was unlucky not to book a spot in the final alongside Edwards, crossing the line in equal third place in Semi Final 3 in 23.73. In the men’s event, Christopher Ius (Andrew Murphy, Sydney University) was fourth over the finish line in 20.94 (+0.9) for his equal third fastest time of his career but did not advance to the final.
Sprint hurdlers and training partners Imogen Breslin (Mick Zisti, Macquarie University) and Emily Britton (Mick Zisti, Australian Catholic University) both finished sixth in their respective Semi Finals to finish their Universiade campaign. Britton was the faster of the duo, clocking 13.22 (+1.1) while Breslin’s time of 13.41 (-0.3) saw her conclude her campaign with her fourth fastest performance of all-time.
Australia’s depth on the middle distance scene extended to Round One of the Men’s 800m in China, with both Luke Boyes (Ben St Lawrence, UTS) and Jack Lunn (Steve Fabris, Monash University) cruising through their respective heats to book spots in today’s semi final. Lunn clocked 1:49.78 for second in a hotly-contested Heat 2, that saw the entire field finish less than a second apart. Boyes was also second across the line in Heat 1, clocking 1:51.73 and only 0.06 seconds from heat winner, Luis Oberbeck (Germany).
After four events of the heptathlon, Camryn Newton-Smith (Ralph Newton and Matt Vining, Arkansas State University) and Mia Scerri (Darren Clark, Monash University) sit in 11th (3361 points) and 12th position (3328 points), with three events still to go. The youngest athlete on the team, 18-year-old Scerri thrived in the green and gold securing two new personal bests in the High Jump (1.74m) and Shot Put (13.48), while Newton Smith finished the 200m with a season’s best time of 25.23 (+0.9).
The Australian action continues today at the World University Games from 11am AEST.
By Sascha Ryner, Athletics Australia
Posted: 5/8/2023
