Montag steps closer to Olympic dream with Australian record

A blockbuster weekend of Australian athletics in Adelaide has been capped off by an Oceania record from Jemima Montag, who strolled to her sixth consecutive Australian 20km Race Walk title alongside men’s champion Kyle Swan as the Chemist Warehouse Summer Season commenced in scorching fashion.

World Championships silver medallist Montag (Brent Vallance) made a triumphant return to the 20km race walk when contesting the event for the first time since Budapest, setting a new Australian record of 1:27:09 to better her previous mark of 1:27:16 at the World Athletics Racing Walking Tour Silver meet.

Charging away from a slick field including Olympic silver medallist Lorena Arenas (1:27:25, COL) and four-time world champion Liu Hong (1:27:44, CHN), Montag set up her Paris Olympic campaign with a statement victory over the world’s best.

“I really did have to lift today. The two women behind me were silver and bronze in Tokyo, so it was a great opportunity. It’s not just a National Championships anymore, it’s a silver label, high-quality meet,” Montag said.

“I was not expecting the move at 13.5km by my Colombian teammate, it was quite abrupt. My brain definitely told me to give up and let her go, but in track and field you need to be flexible with your plan - I didn’t want to let her get too far ahead and regret it later.”

Returning to the site of her first Australian record of 1:27:27 in 2022, the shift in mindset from Montag demonstrated her increased focus on racing rather than clock-watching:

“I was really trying to think one lap at a time, I couldn’t even really see the clock which is a really good thing. Two years ago when I broke the national record for the first time, all I thought about was the time which made me really tense and up tight,” Montag said.

The Australian silver and bronze medals went to Rebecca Henderson (1:30:40, Simon Baker) and Olivia Sandery (1:30:52, Jared Tallent) respectively, while Kyle Swan (Jared Tallent) raced to the Australian men’s title as he reigned supreme over 20km in 1:19:52.

“I’m very happy with that, I like to race quite aggressively and I had the form to do that today. If anyone was going to beat me, they would have to walk sub-80 minutes to do it, so I just stuck to my strengths,” Swan said.

Line honours were clinched by Canada’s Evan Dunfee in 1:19:23, who continued his contributions to raising the standard of race walking down under.

“Evan is a really classy walker, he has won medals at the World Championships and Olympics, so to hang in there with him – I was really happy with that. I remember training with him when I was 16 and being inspired, so to go out and race with him like that was really fulfilling,” Swan said.

Silver went to Rhydian Cowley (Brent Vallance) in 1:21:01, while Timothy Fraser (Jared Tallent) continued his breakthrough season with bronze and a walk of 1:22:03.

16-year-old Isaac Beacroft (David Beacroft) bounced back to form with yet another Australian Under 18 record in the walking ranks, breaking away from his rivals in the Under 20 Men’s 10km event when carving 57-seconds off the record with a walk of 41:39.

The performance brings Beacroft one step closer to his Australian debut as the 2024 World Athletics Race Walking Teams Championships to be held in Turkey this April, with Australia’s junior walks depth shining as Alexandra Griffin (Jared Tallent) took out the Under 20 Women’s 10km in 47:59.

Full results for the 2024 Australian and Oceania 20km Race Walking Championships can be found HERE, while results from the 2024 Chemist Warehouse Adelaide Invitational can be found HERE.

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 11/2/2024