Juniors in action at Australian Combined Event Championships

Some of Australia's top junior athletes have traveleld to Melbourne to compete at the Australian Junior Combined Event Championships, which begin today at Lakeside Stadium.

While nearly all Australian Championships last year were cancelled, one competition that proceeded were the 2020 Australian Combined Event Championships, held in Brisbane in February. In 2021, the junior age groups, under-15 to 18, will be held this week in Melbourne, while the under-20 and open championships will be conducted in April in Sydney.

Victorian Mia Scerri (U17), NSW’s Angus Clues (U16), Queensland’s Charlize Goody (U16) and South Australia’s Zade Kretschmer (U18) all won titles 12 months ago and start with podium potential in 2021. 

Goody, Clues and Scerri arrive as national leaders in their age division, while Mia Scerri is seeking a third consecutive win at the championships, after taking the under-15 title in 2019 and under-16 event in 2020.

The under-17 girls heptathlon is the largest field with 15 competing. It features Scerri, who has this year pushed her PBs in her best events to 6.09m in the long jump, 1.70m in the high jump and 14.52 in the shot put.

The under-16 girls heptathlon has attracted a tremendous field of 14 athletes. It looks to be a most intriguing competition. Champion in 2020, Charlize Goody (QLD) has been in terrific form.  She won last year with a score of 4493 points, then raise her PB to 4937 in December and last weekend at the Queensland Championships achieved individual marks in the shot, long jump and javelin all exceeding her best in the heptathlon. In December in their state championships, Goody had a close win of 110 points over Tiani Hogan (QLD) who will again be good competition in Melbourne. The highest score in 2021 of 4790 has been achieved by Victorian Elli Symonds, a tremendous hurdler and shot putter.

The under-16 boys is looking like a close battle between Angus Clues (NSW) and Xavier Pitt (VIC). Clues won the title in 2020 and has already progressed over 200 points this year with a tally of 4176 in his state championships, but Pitt scored an impressive total of 4053 last month. Both will have strong second days with good javelin personal bests.

Event Summary:
What:   Australian Junior (U18-U15) Combined Event Championships
When:   Wednesday and Thursday 24 and 25 March 2021
Where: Lakeside Stadium, Albert Park, Melbourne

Timetable, entries and more info: https://www.athletics.com.au/events/83512/

By David Tarbotton for Athletics Australia
Posted: 24/3/2021