Low Sets High Standard as Emerging Talents Shine | Australian Track and Field Championships Day One

The gold rush has begun at the Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre for the 2023 Chemist Warehouse Australian Track and Field Championships, with Paralympic champion Vanessa Low and a host of emerging stars stamping their mark on the historic 100th edition of the event.

In her first championships since giving birth, Paralympic gold medallist Vanessa Low (T61, Scott Reardon) leapt to victory in the Women’s Ambulant Long Jump with a high flying 4.96m (-0.7), which equates to 93.23 on the BASELINE system.

Another A-qualifier for the World Para Athletics Championships in Paris this July, the double-leg amputee came away with her third consecutive title, proving that motherhood is no barrier to success.

“It’s really hard to make plans when you have a baby. To be honest, this year I wanted to see if I still loved the sport and I do. So I’ve returned to see how far we could take it,” Low said.

“I struggled getting one on the board. It is still quite hard after being away for such a long time in field events but we are getting there and it’s quite promising to think that soon we could be standing at a World Championships and hopefully giving it a really good go.”

Up-and-coming T35 athlete Summer Giddings won silver with a performance of 2.90m (-1.8), while two-time Paralympian Sarah Walsh (T64, Matt Beckenham) rounded out the podium with a B-qualifying result of 5.21m. Ari Gesini (T38, Sebastian Kuzminski) claimed his maiden title with a jump of 6.17m missing out on a World Para Athletics Championships qualifier by just three-centimetres. Gesini will compete again tomorrow in the Men’s Open Long Jump.

20-year-old race walker Olivia Sandery (Jared Tallent) torched her way to a new 10,000m personal best of 44:56.00, shaking off illness to win her first Open Australian title, fresh off posting a 20km qualifier for the 2023 World Athletics Championships and 2024 Olympic Games in Japan.

“The aim was to sit with the front few for the first few kilometres and then see how I was feeling, and then obviously get the win. I felt pretty good from the start so I just decided to take the lead,” Sandery said.

“I am extremely happy! I didn’t expect the transition to seniors to be so seamless or for it to happen so quickly. Based on my 20km PB now my 10km should be a bit faster, but that’s just track racing, I’m sure I’ll get it down.”

Alannah Pitcher (45:43.34) and Hannah Mison (46:02.80) secured the minor medals, while Elizabeth McMillen (47:14.68) sailed to a big win in the Under 20 bout.

Five months after clocking an Australian Under 18 record of 10.27-seconds, 17-year-old sprint sensation Sebastian Sultana (Greg Smith) closed off his breakthrough season with a swift 10.35-second (+0.6) run to claim the Men’s Under 20 100m crown.

Defeating Victorian duo Alexander Colgan (10.48) and Frankleen Newah-Jarfoi (10.51), Sultana delivered under pressure off the back of gaining experience in the 2023 Chemist Warehouse Summer Series:

“The pressure, the atmosphere, all of it gets to you but overall I look at it as a really good experience. I think it helps me control my nerves a lot and I can stay relaxed in an U20 race. It’s good to race with the boys.”

World Under 20 representative Georgia Harris (Paul Pearce) shot out of the blocks and never looked back en route to the Women’s Under 20 title, setting a scorching new personal best of 11.46-seconds (+1.1) in the process over Jessica Milat (11.54) and Hilal Durmaz (11.58).

After falling short of her goals in Cali last year, Harris has bounced back in 2023 to establish herself as the nation’s premier Under 20 woman:

“Leading up to Cali, I was injured. It didn’t discount anything so I went out there and tried my hardest. I didn’t run how I wanted to but I guess reflecting on it now, we all have our up and downs and it’s basically how we come back from that.”

Despite having only just entered his 400m training block, Paralympic champion James Turner (Iryna Dvoskina) continued his winning streak seen this summer in the 100m by taking out the Men’s 400m Ambulant with an A-qualifying standard of 54.55. The Women’s 400m Ambulant was won by sprints specialist Rhiannon Clarke (T38, Danny Kevan) in 1:05.38, with Rio Paralympian Tamsin Colley (T36, Matt Rawlings) and Alissa Jordaan (T47 Sebastian Kuzminski) rounding out the podium. Jordaan, who crossed the line first in the multi-class race clocked 1:01.46 - her fastest time since the Tokyo Paralympics.

Australian Under 18 record holder over 3000m Amy Bunnage (Tim O’Shaughnessy) demonstrated her class with a dominant front-running display to shave six-seconds off the meet record, stopping the clock in 9:00.33.

Winning by a margin of 41-seconds, Bunnage ran her competitors into the ground from the gun, while Archie Noakes (Charlotte Wilson) was forced to fight for his Under 20 Men’s title. Racing his 2023 World Cross Country Championships teammates Ciaran Rushton (Ben Saint Lawrence) and Bailey Habler (Jeremy Roff), Noakes applied the burners over the final lap and delivered a celebration to match his triumphant victory.

Winning her third consecutive national title, Marley Raikiwasa (Steve Larsson) proved to be the dominant force in the Women’s U20 discus once again when throwing 49.99m to win the first event of the historic championships. Though defeated by New Zealand’s Natalia Rankin-Cheste (51.64m), the World Athletics Under 20 finalist was the top Australian by over one-metre, beating New South Wales’ Ashlyn Blackstock (48.68m). Queenslander Charlize Goody (47.91m) claimed bronze. In the Men’s Under 20 Discus Darcy Miller (Steve Larsson) took out the Men’s Under 20 title with a throw of 59.18m.

Samantha Schmidt (F38) continued the strong results in the Women’s Discus Ambulant when throwing 34.09m - just shy of her 34.29m Australian record, and another B qualifier as she looks ahead to her maiden World Para Athletics Championships.

Australia’s distance stars began their national campaign with the Men’s and Women’s 1500m providing a taste of what’s to come in Saturday’s final. Abbey Caldwell (Gavin Burren) crossed the line first in the women’s heat, beating Oregon Duck Isabella Thornton-Bott and Olympian, Georgia Griffith (Nic Bideau), while it was national record holder Jessica Hull (Pete Julian) who took out the second heat, with Linden Hall (Ned Brophy-Williams) on her shoulder across the finish line.

16-year-old Cameron Myers (Lee Bobbin) made a statement in the Men’s 1500m preliminary round, with NSW’s Connor Whiteley and World Championships representative Matthew Ramsden (Nic Bideau) coming out on top in their respective heats. Whiteley recorded the fastest time of the trip with a 3:43.44 performance.

Leading the Men’s Triple Jump Qualification was 19-year-old Aiden Hinson (Chloe Stevens) with a mark of 16.31m (+0.5), while Desleigh Owusu (Andrew Murphy) posted the best mark for the women with 13.42m (-0.8). Matthew Denny (Dale Stevenson) will save his 60m efforts for Saturday’s Men’s Discus Final after qualifying with a mark of 59.48m.

Day 2 of the Chemist Warehouse Australian Track and Field Championships will continue tomorrow from 9am AEST/Brisbane time, with the livestream commencing from 2.05pm local time (AEST).

Tickets are still on sale. Purchase your tickets here now.

By Sascha Ryner and Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 30/3/2023