Indoors and Out | Weightman Leads Big Weekend
Published Mon 27 Feb 2023
Indoors and out, Australian stars were getting it done around the globe last weekend spearheaded by both seasoned veterans and rising stars.
Australia’s marathon mums continued their upward trajectory as Lisa Weightman (Dick Telford) set a new personal best of 2:23:15 at the Osaka Marathon, finishing in fourth place of the hotly contested affair at which only eight seconds separated her from silver.
Weightman’s performance bettered the previous course record with ease and lifted her to third place on the Australian all-time list, with the 44-year-old overtaking childhood hero Lisa Ondieki as Australia’s third fastest woman in the event’s history.
“As a teenager, a defining moment in my career was watching Lisa Ondieki at Zatopek with Dad and Dick [Telford]. I will never forget where I was standing at Olympic Park when I said to them ‘one day I’d love to run as fast as Lisa -she’s amazing!’,” Weightman wrote on Instagram.
“I set out on this journey and today I did it! Thank you Lisa, you inspired a little girl who year after year was told she wasn’t good enough and went out to prove that she is!”
Four years and one day after his previous personal best of 5.87m, Kurtis Marschall (Paul Burgess and James Fitzpatrick) returned to the happy hunting ground of Clermont-Ferrand to vault 5.91m – breaking the drought and equalling the second highest clearance in the world this year.
Flirting with career-best form throughout the early season with performances of four performances between 5.82m-5.83m, the 25-year-old broke the shackles to finish in second place behind Armand Duplantis who set a world indoor record of 6.22m.
The tone of strong indoor form for the weekend was set by Catriona Bisset (Ned Brophy-Williams) who blazed her way to second place at the World Indoor Tour Final in Birmingham, clocking 1:59.83 to build on her two previous runs on the boards and finish fourth overall in the series. Bisset’s run was only 0.37-seconds outside of her own Australian indoor record.
A trio of Australia’s wheelchair racers were out in force at the Dubai Grand Prix, with Samuel Rizzo, Jake Lappin and Rheed McCracken flying the flag overseas. With 2023 set to welcome the return of the World Para Athletics Championships this July, the three Paris hopefuls laid down early season markers over 800m to open their international campaigns.
McCracken fared the best on paper when finishing in eighth place overall of the 800m T34 in a time of 1:46.46, while Rizzo (1:33.09) edged out Lappin (1:34.89) in the 800m T54 as the pair finished in 10th and 13th placings respectively – both B Qualifiers for the World Para Athletics Championships. The Dubai Grand Prix continues in the coming days.
An emerging group of Australian middle-distance talents were equally impressive in the NCAA ranks, led by a flurry of podium finishes as the NCAA Track and Field Championships draw closer in Albuquerque from March 10-11.
After clocking numerous World Para Athletics Championship B qualifiers, Mali Lovell broke through for an A qualifier at the New South Wales Junior Championships.The UTS Norths teenager, who is coached by Katie Edwards and Mel Gainsford-Taylor, was competing in the women’s under-20 Para Ambulant 200m, and also broke her own Australian U20 record clocking 30.45 into a headwind.
Ky Robinson wasted little time in returning to the US after being the first senior Australian male home at the World Cross Country Championships with 23rd at Bathurst, setting a new Stanford University school record of 7:42.30 over 3000m – winning in style at the Ken Shannon Invitational.
Also impressing at the Ken Shannon Invitational was Australia’s Ruby Smee (San Francisco), who sailed away from the field to win by over 10-seconds as the scoreboard read 15:38.08.
At the Big Ten Championships, Jackson Sharp and Adam Spencer combined to deliver three wins for Wisconsin-based Australian duo, with Sharp storming to the 5000m title in 14:07.80 before returning to clinch the 3000m in 7:51.53. Spencer dictated terms in the closing laps of the Mile in a strong tactical performance, stretching away in the home straight to win in 4:13.03.
World Under 20 finalist Hayley Kitching picked up where she left off having arrived at Penn State University, stopping the clock in 2:03.70 to finish second at the Big Ten Championships behind her US-based teammate.
Australians were winning all over the country with man-mountain Alexander Kolesnikoff (Harvard) taking out the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships in the shot put with a 19.58m effort, while Duncan Miller (Princeton) won the Mile in 4:02.88. At the ACC Championships, Jesse Hunt (North Carolina) was also first in the Mile in a time of 3:58.46, while Oklahoma State’s Alex Stitt finished third with a run of 2:21.34 over 1000m at the Big 12 Championships.
Podiums flowed at the Atlantic 10 Championships for Annabelle Eastman (George Mason) who was second and third over 5000m (16:46.38) and 3000m (9:37.28) respectively, along with Loyola’s Jason Clayton who bounced back into form with a run of 4:08.51 for second in the Mile. Patrick Thygesen (Providence) was second at the Big East Championships in the 3000m with a time of 7:57.45.
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 27/2/2023
