Make or break for Australia's relay teams

It’s make or break time for Australia’s relay teams. With 19 days left of the Olympic qualifying period, it has come down to the wire for both the Australian men's and women’s 4x100m relay teams, who have one last chance to prove themselves worthy of Olympic competition.

Their last chance is fast approaching; this Saturday at the second meet of the Oceania Athletics Invitational Series on the Gold Coast.

To qualify a relay team for the Olympic Games, teams must either secure automatic qualification by placing in the top 8 at the World Athletics Relay Championships, or finish the qualification period with a top 16 ranking.

Unable to compete at the World Athletics Relay Championships in May due to concerns around COVID-19, both teams are now banking on skyrocketing up the world ranking list from 29 and 39, for our women's and men's team's respectively. 

Our men’s team will need to run 38.45, while our women will need to run close to the national record of 42.99, and no slower than 43.03.

Can it be done? Athletics Australia Event Group Lead for Sprints and Relays, Adam Larcom believes the work done at this week’s relay camp at Griffith University will give them the best chance of succeeding in their quest. 

Australia’s women have led a sprinting resurgence in 2021. Last week at the first meet of the Oceania Athletics Invitational Series, a quartet consisting of Celeste Mucci, Bree Masters, Riley Day and Hana Basic set out put the national record of 42.99 in jeopardy.

Recording a 43.74, with much room to improve, the talented squad are ready to deliver.  

“Our women’s team have been really focused and have taken a professional approach to practice sessions. I’ve been really impressed this week with the elite way the team both practices and contributes to our team meetings in order to develop relay skills. They have a ‘Growth Mindset’ and belief that has the potential to get them there,” Larcom said.

Our men’s team, which consisted of Jack Hale, Jake Doran, Alexander Hartmann and Jake Penny were half a second slower than they needed to be, but this week have focused on the crucial baton exchange and now have the potential to shave down their time. 

“Our men’s team have been working on the ability to maintain speed through the exchange zone in order to result in a faster baton exchange, and there is excellent team culture.

“It’s been outstanding to see the rapport build in both teams. Rapport in relay is imperative. We have really good depth so both at a high performance and developmental level, we have really utilized our time preparing both on and off the track, and racing will reveal how great the team synergy has been.”

Hale, who has been residing on the Gold Coast for a few weeks, said he and his squad members are looking forward to putting their learnings into practice for one final nudge at an Olympic qualifier.

“Our race last week, it was messy but it was to be expected after not having trained together for some time. It happens in relays. You improve by 0.2 every time in relay exchanges, and it was a good start,” he said.

“The best way to put it, is that we know there’s much more to come, but only if we put the perfect race this week.

“We’ve done relay exchange sessions where we have to practice those specific exchanges that are in a race. We’ve also done fundamental relay work, which has even been great for those that have been in the relay squad for a while but haven’t been in that setting for a while, and it’s also been great for the guys who haven’t been here so much.

“We’ve got all bases covered and we saw big development over this camp and lots of improvement going into Saturday.”

One major addition to the women’s relay squad  this year is Hana Basic, who is now relishing the opportunity to come together for her country.

“A lot of the focus and attention over the last few months has been specifically on the 100 so it’s really good to have the relay to diffuse that and have three people to lean on,” she said.

“Relays are like an extra burst of energy. I was speaking to Riley [Day] and the way she runs 40 or 50 metres with me feels like she’s chasing me down the straight.

“We have a really awesome group of girls. The harmony is there, and we have gelled really well which has made everything so easy.”

Larcom said that the pressure will be on for the team to race at a world-class level, which despite a great camp, will still be challenging.

“Not racing at a Worlds level against global competition means that we don’t have the stimulus that often assists in racing faster. Think fast tracks, world competition and longer to train and prepare are all factors that affect performance.”

But despite this, Larcom said the efforts of both teams made over the past 10 days shows promise ahead of Saturday and whatever may come, the team culture seen this week will only breed success ahead of an action-packed 2022.

“There’s an awesome vibe in our relay team of high performance and I can see the unity is constantly growing,” he said.

“This culture will continually develop into our future relay camps and 2022 World Championships and the Commonwealth Games. Underpinning relay performance at a world level is respect and trust which is developed both on and off the track. Both the men’s and women’s team, and as one 4 x 100m team are a strong unit.”

The Australian relays camp at Griffith University has been proudly supported by the City of Gold Coast.

By Sascha Ryner and Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 10/6/2021