Fit and Firing | Perris and Olyslagers Lead Big Weekend

Led by a national record of 10.65-seconds from Chad “The White Tiger” Perris and a 2.03m attempt by Nicola Olyslagers, Australia’s track and field stars set the scene for 2023 with strong early season markers both home and abroad over the weekend.

Chad Perris (Matt Beckenham) roared into the record books with a pair of swift 10.65 second performances at the ACT Championships to become Australia’s fastest ever Paralympic athlete. Perris produced a run of 10.65 (+1.5) in the heats before repeating the dose with 10.65 (+1.6) in the final.

Olympic silver medallist Nicola Olyslagers (Matt Horsnell) took just one competition in 2023 to jump higher than she did in her 10 appearances during 2022, soaring over a World Championships qualifier of 1.98m. Olyslagers’ confidence shone through as she was flawless to 1.95m before requiring two attempts at 1.98m – the equal Australian record holder then raising the bar for a look at 2.03m. Olyslagers’ training partner, 23-year-old Emily Whelan (Matt Horsnell), cleared a significant personal best of 1.86m for silver.

Fellow World Championships finalist Kurtis Marschall (Paul Burgess and James Fitzpatrick) laid down the third highest clearance of his career in Germany, taking second place with a vault of 5.83m indoors – just four centimetres outside of his personal best from 2019. The performance comfortably meets the 5.81m qualification standard for the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.

Also impressing on international soil was Georgia Griffith (Nic Bideau) who cruised to victory at the Cooks Classic in New Zealand, winning the mile in a new meet record of 4:30.26 ahead of training partner Sarah Billings (Collis Birmingham) in 4:32.30. Callum Davies (Collis Birmingham) clinched silver in the men’s mile in 3:56.05, while Jude Thomas (Collis Birmingham) was third in 3:58.29. Ellie Beer (Brett Robinson) added to the podium success across the ditch with third place in the 400m, clocking 53.69.

Australia’s sprinters stole the show at the ACT Championships with a series of strong runs across the three days, with Jacob Despard (Rolf Ohman) and Ella Connolly (Mark Ladbrook) reigning supreme with textbook sprint doubles.

Despard set two new personal best in the process, backing up a windy 10.13 (+2.8) with a legal 10.21 (-0.2) in the final of the 100m to edge out Joshua Azzopardi (Rob Marks) in 10.25, before returning to obliterate his own Tasmanian 200m record with a run of 20.59 (+1.2). Emerging talents Jackson Rowe (Greg Smith) and Connor Bond (Mick Zisti) clocked 20.83 to round out the 200m podium.

Connolly continued her domestic dominance with a windy 11.21 (+2.6) in the final of the 100m and 23.12 (+1.2) in the first round of the 200m, with the Commonwealth Games finalist appearing set for another big year. Teammates Sam Geddes (John Nicolosi) and Tokyo Olympian Hana Basic (John Nicolosi) made strong returns to the 100m podium with times of 11.39 (+2.6) and 11.44 (+2.6) respectively.  

Celeste Mucci (Darren Clark) built on her early season form with a pair of classy showings in the 100m hurdles, registering a windy 12.90 in the heats before taking the win in 12.97 (+0.9) in the final when winning by over half-a-second. Also winning at the Australian Institute of Sport was two-time Olympic finalist Brooke Buschkuehl (Russell Stratton) who opened her campaign with a leap of 6.61m (+0.9).

Alex Beck (Mark Ladbrook) stopped the clock in 46.05 over 400m to edge out 19-year-old Aidan Murphy (Peter Fitzgerald) in 46.33 as six Australians shattered the 47-second mark, while Lachlan Raper (Ben Liddy) delivered a career-best run of 1:46.45 over 800m to defeat World Under 20 semi finalist Luke Boyes (Ben Saint Lawrence) in 1:46.69.

Paralympic champion James Turner (Iryna Dvoskina) and Michael Roeger (Philo Saunders) proved that they are ready for the return of international Para athletics in 2023, with Turner running 52.54 over 400m and Roeger dropping back down to the 1500m to win bronze in the able bodied race in a time of 3:50.78. Ella Pardy (Danny Kevan) and Rhiannon Clarke (Danny Kevan) led the way in the Para sprints with runs of 13.18 (+1.9) for 93.93% and 27.26 (+0.8) for 95.08% over 100m and 200m respectively.

Seasoned veteran Kathryn Mithcell (Uwe Hohn) impressed at the Victorian Country Championships with her farthest throw since 2021, a 61.29m effort with her second throw before passing her final two throws. Aiden Hinson (Chloe Stevens) returned with a personal best of 16.35m among a consistent series after withdrawing from last year’s World Under 20 Championships due to injury, while Yual Reath (Pual Cleary) returned to the fray with 2.12m in the high jump.

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 30/1/2023