Oceania Athletics Championships | Track Preview

The Oceania Athletics Championships are the pinnacle event for the Oceania Area and will see many of Australia’s best athletes head to Mackay from June 7-11 to compete against countries from the region, serving as an important stepping stone for the international opportunities to come in 2022.

Below we preview some of the key matchups set to take place on the track, with a field preview to follow.

Men’s 4x100m Relay:

The Australian Men’s 4x100m relay team of Jake Doran (Paul Di Bella), Joshua Azzopardi (Fred Martin), Jacob Despard (Rolf Ohman) and Jake Penny (Mandi Cole) are closing in on their final qualifying opportunities for the World Athletics Championships and Commonwealth Games.

The team will have to improve on their recent runs of 39.08 and 39.16 on the Gold Coast last weekend, but spurred on by international competition at the area championships they will be desperate to find the extra gear required to book their tickets to Eugene and Birmingham.

With racing under their belt after the Gold Coast Invitational and today’s Pre Oceania Meet in Mackay, the squad including Jack Hale (Adam Larcom) and Alex Hartmann (Travis Venema) will be granted their best opportunity yet to register a performance that is reflective of their capabilities.

Doran, Azzopardi, Despard, Penny, and Hale will all contest the Men’s 100m individual title, as they look to take down New Zealand’s Eddie Osei-Nketia to claim the crown as the fastest man in Oceania.

Women’s 4x100m Relay:

Australia’s 4x100m women last week registered performances of 43.72 and 43.87 at the Gold Coast Invitational, with the races providing an opportunity for the squad to test its depth with key athletes unavailable for the encounters.

The squad for the Oceania Championships features Ella Connolly (Mark Ladbrook), Bree Masters (Ryan Hoffman), Monique Quirk (Mark Ladbrook), Naa Anang (Gary Bourne), and junior Hayley Reynolds (Andrew Lulham) – as the team looks to strengthen their claims for international berths in 2022.  

New Zealand’s 4x100m outfit set a new national record of 44.05 at the Australian Track and Field Championships in April, and lead by Zoe Hobbs the rivals from across the ditch will be out to present a strong title challenge.   

The best performance for the Australian women came at this year’s Melbourne Track Classic in March as they carried the baton around the track in a scorching 43.15 seconds, not far outside the national record of 42.99 – a mark the young team appear destined to surpass in the coming years.

Connolly, Masters, and Quirk will battle it out with New Zealand’s Zoe Hobbs in the individual Women’s 100m, with Tokyo Olympian Hana Basic (John Nicolosi) also entered as an invitational athlete.  

Women’s 100m Hurdles:

Celeste Mucci (Darren Clark) could only be eclipsed by Olympic semi-finalist Liz Clay at the national championships when running 12.96 for silver, but she has since pieced together a series of wins in Japan and a 13.03 performance last weekend on the Gold Coast.

The 22-year-old will be eager to secure the bonus points from the area championships and strengthen her claims for an Australian tracksuit in 2022, but she will have to overcome the likes of Michelle Jenneke (Gary Bourne), Hannah Jones (Sally Pearson), and Abbie Taddeo (Penny Gillies).

Jenneke’s 13.05 run for bronze at the national championships saw her come close to returning under the elusive 13-second barrier, before recently clocking 13.11 into a slight headwind in Miami. Jones’ form is largely unknown having only raced once this season, while Taddeo races as an invitational entry after last week’s 13.20 performance.

Mucci’s consistent season to date will see her hard to stop in a bid for the Oceania title.

Men’s 110m Hurdles:

Seven-time Australian champion Nick Hough (Anthony Benn) will be out to add another Oceania title to his collection in Mackay, entering in scorching form off the back of his fastest times in over four years.

Hough’s recent trip to Japan saw him harvest three podium finishes, including runs of 13.50 and 13.49 for the reigning area champion who is slowly closing in on his 13.38 personal best from 2018. The Commonwealth Games medallist’s main challenge comes in the form of World Athletics Indoor Championships representative Nick Andrews (Tim O’Neill), who is almost certain to give Hough something to chase with his trademark explosive start.

Hough holds an impressive 26-4 record over Andrews and will be hard to beat in Mackay.

Women's 1500m: 

Reigning 1500m national champion Abbey Caldwell (Gavin Burren) recently dismantled a slick field in the USA when clocking a World Athletics Championships qualifier of 4:04.18, sneaking under the 4:04.20 standard to strengthen her claim for a tickets to Eugene and Birmingham. 

Caldwell will toe the line in Mackay as she looks to clinch her first Oceania title, with her main rivals coming in the form of 17-year-old Claudia Hollingsworth (Craig Mottram) and Jaylah Hancock-Cameron (Andea Kalemusic). The duo hold personal bests of 4:10.61 and 4:11.93 respectively, but both possess punishing kicks suited to championship-style racing - much like Caldwell. 

Caldwell is undoubtedly be the woman to beat after her recent showings on international soil, with the Australian trio a strong chance to sweep the podium if they can hold out New Zealand's Holly Manning who owns a 4:20.03 personal best and has strong 800m form. 

Men 100m Ambulatory Para:

Tokyo Paralympian Jaydon Page (Sebastian Kuzminski, T47) stamped his authority on the national scene when tearing away from the field at the Australian Track and Field Championships to clinch his first national title, and he will be out to repeat the dose at the Oceania Championships in Mackay.

Page will come up against Paralympic Champion James Turner (Iryna Dvoskina, T36) and the versatile Ari Gesini (Sebastian Kuzminski, T38), as the Australian trio lead the field of 21 which features visitors from New Zealand and India.

Page will have the added incentive of Chad Perris' meeting record of 11.18 as he eyes the area title.

Men's 110m Hurdles (Under 20):

From rivals to teammates and back again, another chapter in the Mitchell Lightfoot (Andy Burton) and Tayleb Willis (Peter Benifer) rivalry will be written in Mackay as the soon-to-be world junior representatives go head-to-head for the Oceania title.  

Lightfoot edged out Willis by 0.02 seconds in a time of 13.59 at the national championships in March, but it’s Willis who holds the superior personal best with his performance of 13.48 in 2021 to Lightfoot’s 13.51. The duo recently trained side by side at the Australian Under 20 camp on the Gold Coast prior to departing for the World Athletics Under 20 Championships next month, with the area championships providing an entrée of international experience.

Both men present in sharp form and a clean run over the sticks will result in fast times for the third and fourth fastest juniors in Australian history.

Men’s 400m:

Olympic duo Steve Solomon (Penny Gillies) and Alex Beck (Mark Ladbrook) headline all the action in the Men’s 400m, an event which features athletes from five countries in a truly international affair.

Beck looms as the in-form man after he returned to the happy hunting ground of the Tokyo Olympic Stadium last month, clocking 45.79 to record the third fastest time of his career and run just outside his 45.54 personal best from the Tokyo Games.

The national champion will be challenged by Solomon who has been unsighted since February when running times of 45.28 and 45.39 on consecutive days, as the two-time Olympian looks to kick his season into gear ahead of the World Athletics Championships and Commonwealth Games.

Fellow Australians Cameron Searle (Brad Carter), Connor Diffey (Matt Lynch), and Ian Halpin (Mike Hurst) are likely to be prominent in proceedings, while Liam Webb (New Zealand) and Kameli Sauduadua (Fiji) lead the international competitors in the field.

Women’s 100m Ambulatory Para:

The Women’s 100m Ambulatory Para race is set to be a showdown between the Paralympic trio of Alissa Jordaan (Sebastian Kuzminski, T47), Ella Pardy (Danny Kevan, T38), and Rhiannon Clarke (Danny Kevan, T38).

It is Jordaan who holds the fastest 100m time of 12.80, narrowly ahead of Clarke’s 12.94 and Pardy’s 13.06, setting up a quality race in what is largely an Australian affair – featuring many rising stars on the Para-athletics scene.

The Kiwi duo of Danielle Aitchison (New Zealand, T36) and Paddy Walsh (New Zealand, T64) will be out to spoil the Australian party, with Atchison more than capable of shaking up this encounter after her two Paralympic medals in Tokyo.

Men’s 200m:

Australian Under 20 record holder Aidan Murphy (Peter Fitzgerald) has been the man to beat over 200m all season, and his 20.68 (1.0) on the Gold Coast last week is enough to suggest that a significant effort will be required to topple the 18-year-old on his way to the Oceania title.

Murphy’s best of 20.41 sees him touted as one of Australia’s top hopes at this year’s World Athletics Under 20 Championships to be held in Colombia this August, where he will race alongside Calab Law (Andrew Iselin) who owns a best of 20.63. Law recently acquired international experience with a short stint of racing in Japan, and he will be confident in closing the gap to challenge Murphy in Mackay.

Jake Doran (Paul Di Bella) clocked 20.77 (-0.9) to secure silver at the national championships in April and will be out to go one better at the Oceania Championships, as the 21-year-old squeezes the 200m into a busy schedule featuring the 100m and 4x100m.

Tokyo Olympian Ratu Banuve Tabakaucoro (Fiji) brings a wealth of experience to the field.

Women’s 400m Hurdles:

Tokyo Olympian Sarah Carli (Melissa Logan) demolished the field at last week’s Gold Coast Invitational in a time of 56.43 seconds, stretching her unbeaten run to seven consecutive wins over the barriers during 2022.

Carli will race alongside training partner in Brodee Mate (Melissa Logan) after the duo clinched the top two spots on the national podium earlier this year, while Genevieve Cowie (Lindsay Watson) will be looking to emulate the form of her 57.18 best from 2019.

The Oceania title appears a formality for Carli who will be eager to close in on the 55.40 World Athletics Championships qualifying standard, a time that her 55.09 personal best suggests is well within her reach – with the bonus points a handy addition to her World Championships and Commonwealth Games hopes.

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 4/6/2022