Field Events Preview | Tokyo Olympics
Published Thu 29 Jul 2021
13 athletes will represent Australia in field events at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Reigning world champion Kelsey-Lee Barber, four-time Olympian Dani Stevens and six Australian record holders are among them – an impressive list that includes Nicola McDermott and Brandon Starc.
WOMEN’S HIGH JUMP:
Qualifying – 10:10am Thursday 5th August
Final – 8:35pm Saturday 7th August
Australia will field a two-pronged attack in the women’s high jump, with the two greatest women in Australian high jump history set to contest the event.
Nicola McDermott (Matt Horsnell) became the first Australian woman in history to soar over the elusive two-metre barrier at this year’s Australian Track and Field Championships – clearing 2.00m to surpass Eleanor Patterson’s (Alex Stewart) national record of 1.99m.
Since then, McDermott has raised the bar once again with a leap of 2.01m at the Stockholm Diamond League – the third highest jump in the world since 2019.
“I think 2.01m is certainly possible to be in the medals, so I’m aiming and training as if it’s already sealed and I’m just believing that I can do it,” she said.
“To jump with Eleanor is such a privilege and to be sending the two greatest women in Australian high jump history to the same Olympics is so special.”
Patterson has been a model of consistency in 2021 despite her late start to the season, making her way over 1.96m in her final three competitions prior to the Olympics. Gaining looks at her personal best territory of 1.99m in those competitions leaves Patterson with significant upside in Tokyo; only expected to improve with jumps under her belt.
Michelle Brown is the only Australian woman to have ever secured an Olympic medal in the Olympic high jump with silver in 1964.
MEN’S HIGH JUMP:
Qualifying – 10:15am Friday 30th July
Final – 8:10pm Saturday 1st August
Brandon Starc (Alex Stewart) is the equal Australian record holder in the men’s high jump at 2.36m, and if he can muster form anywhere near that height he will feature deep in the men’s high jump final.
Starc boasts strong major championship form having finished sixth in the event at the 2019 IAAF World Championship final when clearing 2.30m, a firm indicator that he can mix it with the world’s best on the big stage.
Nailing the 2.33m Olympic standard in June of this year, Starc’s season’s best is a mark that only three men worldwide have bettered in 2021.
The last Australian to win a medal in the high jump at the Olympic was Tim Forsyth who clinched bronze in 1992.
WOMEN’S POLE VAULT:
Qualifying – 8:20pm Monday 2nd August
Final – 8:20pm Thursday 5th August
Nina Kennedy (Paul Burgess and James Fitzpatrick) has piled on 11cm to her personal best this season to surpass Alana Boyd as the national record holder with a clearance of 4.82m.
Kennedy’s clearance is the fifth highest in the world this year, but an interrupted lead up to the Olympic Games due to a series of injuries has the Western Australian managing her expectations.
“I’ve always dreamed of going to the Olympics, so regardless of a preparation that was so far from what I had imagined, I’m going there to do my best and to leave everything I have out on the track,” she said.
The 24-year-old is as competitive as they come and attending the most esteemed sporting event in the world may just bring out her best – regardless of the preparation.
She will be joined by training partner Elizaveta Parnova (Paul Burgess and James Fitzpatrick), who will make her second Olympic appearance – nine years after her debut in London. On that occasion, she became the youngest athlete in Olympic history to compete in the women’s pole vault – aged 18-years and 88-days.
Parnova has flirted with career-best shape throughout this season, clearing 4.55m in two competitions to narrowly fall short of her 4.60m personal best. Whilst not improving on that mark, the way she jumped in the latter part of her campaign suggests that the 27-year-old has extra centimeters up her sleeve in Tokyo.
Tatiana Grigorieva claimed silver at the 2012 London Olympics and is Australia’s most recent medalist in the event – coincidentally Parnova’s aunt.
MEN’S POLE VAULT:
Qualifying – 10:40am Saturday 31st July
Final – 8:20pm Tuesday 3rd August
In 2016, Kurtis Marschall (Paul Burgess and James Fitzpatrick) became the first Australian male teenager to compete in the Olympic pole vault – clearing 5.60m at the Games as a 19-year-old.
Fast forward an Olympic cycle (and a bit more), and 5.60m is child’s play for the now 24-year-old. Marschall has a season’s best of 5.80m to his name, clearing the height in four separate competitions to come agonisingly close to his 5.81m personal best.
Marschall returns for his second Olympics having tasted Commonwealth Games glory when taking out the pole vault title on home soil in 2018, but he will be looking to convert that to Olympic success in Tokyo.
His consistency throughout 2021 will be one of his greatest assets in doing so, with Marschall stringing together a series of performances that indicate he is ready to soar to new heights.
Steve Hooker won gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing to immortalise his name in Australian athletics history.
WOMEN’S DISCUS:
Qualifying – 10:30am Saturday 31st July
Final – 9:00pm Monday 2nd August
Dani Stevens (Denis Knowles) is set to compete at her fourth Olympic Games, 13-years after her Olympic debut in Beijing.
Stevens has a rich history at major championships highlighted by her win at the 2009 IAAF World Championships to secure the world title, along with a silver medal at the 2017 World Championships. In 2016, Stevens finished in fourth place of the Olympic final.
The seasoned veteran has made a valiant comeback in 2021 after a serious injury that threatened her athletic career, proceeding to throw 63.36m in her return to competition – a mark that remains her season’s best. Stevens has hovered in that range for throughout the season, during which she clinched her 14th national title in the discus.
Stevens says she is feeling strong and fast, but most of all grateful.
“Knowing where I was a year ago - it’s been a long, hard, frustrating recovery but that makes it all the more sweeter because this has been the hardest one to earn. I’m very grateful to be here,” she said.
Daniela Costian is the only Australian woman to have won a medal in the discus, claiming bronze in 1992.
MEN’S DISCUS:
Qualifying – 9:45am Friday 30th July
Final – 9:15pm Saturday 31st July
Matthew Denny (Ben Thomson) will fly the flag for Australia in the men’s discus, approaching the Olympics in a rich vein of form having thrown a personal best of 66.15m to qualify for the Games in June.
Denny has not thrown competitively since, but rest assured he will be ready come qualifying on Friday after a six-week training block fine tuning his Olympic preparations.
The 25-year-old finished in sixth place at the 2019 IAAF World Championships to stamp his claim as a contender at major championships, but Denny remains level-headed in his Tokyo ambitions.
“I’m realistic in where I sit. For me it’s about getting myself in the best form possible and being ready for a sliding doors moment when it presents itself. I know that if I get if I get into the form that I should, then a medal is possible,” he said.
“It’s not about the outcome, it’s about being in the moment and focusing on that.”
The best ever result by an Australian man in the discus at the Olympics is Benn Harradine’s ninth placing in 2012.
WOMEN’S JAVELIN:
Qualifying – 10:20am Tuesday 3rd August
Final – 9:50pm Friday 6th August
Reigning world champion Kelsey-Lee Barber (Mike Barber) has flown under the radar in 2021, quietly preparing for her second Olympic Games after her triumphant sixth-round victory at the 2019 IAAF World Championships.
Barber holds a 61.09m season’s best which she threw at the Australian Track and Field Championships, before surpassing the 60-metre mark on both occasions on international soil to secure a win in Finland and a third placing in Norway.
Australian record holder Kathryn Mitchell (Uwe Hohn) presents as a strong chance to feature deep in the Olympic final, with a weight of work behind her and the national title under her belt.
Mitchell has launched a season’s best of 63.50m, but it is her consistency around that mark that is most exciting – throwing 63.50m, 63.49m, 63.34m in separate competitions to sit 12th worldwide in 2021.
24-year-old Mackenzie Little (Angus McEntyre) rounds out the Australian javelin trio, with the Stanford University product also throwing over 60-metres in multiple competitions this season - with a best of 61.42m.
Louise McPaul is Australia’s only medalist in Olympic javelin history with silver in 1996.
WOMEN’S LONG JUMP:
Qualifying – 10:50am Sunday 1st August
Final – 11:50am Tuesday 3rd August
Australian record holder Brooke Stratton (Russell Stratton) will be looking to emulate the form that saw her leap 7.05m and into the record books, with the accomplished Australian bound for her second Olympic Games.
Stratton made her Olympic debut in Rio where she finished in seventh place - a result that she will be looking to improve on in Tokyo. Stratton possesses a season’s best of 6.84m which she mustered to win the national title in April – a promising sign in the most significant domestic competition of the year.
A solid domestic campaign leaves the 28-year-old primed to improve on the big stage in the presence of elite competition, with Stratton more than capable of returning to distances over the elusive seven-metre barrier and challenging the world’s best.
“I’ve proved that I can jump over seven metres before, I just have to do it on the day and if I can do that then anything is possible,” she said.
At the Athens Olympics in 2004, Bronwyn Thomson placed fourth in the women’s long jump to become Australia’s most successful woman in the event at an Olympic Games.
MEN’S LONG JUMP:
Qualifying – 8:10pm Saturday 31st July
Final – 11:20am Monday 2nd August
Henry Frayne (Gary Bourne) will become a three-time Olympian when he takes flight in Tokyo, having made the final on both previous encounters at the Olympic Games.
A fresh-faced Frayne managed to scalp ninth place at his Olympic debut in London, before improving in Rio to finish in seventh place with a leap of 8.06m in the final.
In 2021, he secured the national title with a jump of 7.97m as he edged out some stiff competition before jetting off overseas to continue his preparations. He has since recorded a 7.96m performance at the FBK Games in Hengelo.
Frayne’s best is certainly good enough to propel him to a third Olympic final if he can summon it on the day.
In Olympic history, Australia has won four medals in the men’s long jump – all silver with the most recent of those Mitchell Watt in 2012.
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 29/07/2021
