Oceania Championship Day 2 Review: Barber and Moloney outstanding

Good weather conditions again prevailed on day two of the Oceania Championships and the athletes responded with some landmark performances. Two-time Commonwealth Games medallist Kelsey Barber made significant progression in the javelin, while teenager Ashley Moloney went to new levels in the decathlon.

In the last two years Kelsey Barber has smashed the javelin out to 64 metres on six occasions, but her consistency has been rewarded with a new personal best distance of 65.61m to take the Oceania title by seven metres and clinch a Tokyo 2020 qualifier. The distance also moved her up one place on the all-time list, to number four and to number five in the world for 2019.

Barber knew it was a solid throw, but didn’t realise just how far.

“When I let go of it I thought it might sneak over the 64m line, so I was a little surprised to see a 65 come up.”

She had her best ever start to a competition launching the javelin to 63.88m, her longest throw for 11 months.

“I had a really good throw in round one which really helped me build confidence. I wanted more distance and to do that you have to relax which I was really happy I was able to do.”

Second place was two-time NCAA champion Mackenzie Little, competing for the first time in Australia for over five years. She threw 57.74m and will seriously challenge the Doha World Championship standard which is about a metre above her PB.

“It is great to be back in Australia, I just got back from the States. I actually felt ok, it just wasn’t quite the distances for me. I am getting back in the groove and working with the right people. I am particularly excited about the World Uni’s coming up.”

Although she didn’t compete for five years in Australia, she made regular trips home.

“I spent the summer and winter breaks with my family which was nice, and I do feel like I have been out of the athletics circle for a while, but it’s really exciting to be back.”

As with any combined event, fortunes can fluctuate and that certainly was the case with the men’s decathlon. Just over four weeks ago teenager Ash Moloney and training partner Cedric Dubler competed in Gotzis at one of the big combined events of the year. On that occasion Dubler scored 8185 points and Moloney 8038 points. Both were a little down on their Gotzis overnight score with 4210 and 4293 points respectively. After reasonable starts today in Townsville, they were struggling early in the pole vault. Dubler nearly no heighted his opening of 4.60m. They both eventually negotiated the opening height and extraordinarily went on to clear 5 metres. It was a good performance for Dubler (PB 5.20m) but amazing for Moloney who had a previous best of 4.60m.

Unfortunately, the javelin didn’t go to plan. Moloney was solid at 54.38m, two metres below his PB, but Dubler was not able to register a mark near his PB, reaching 51.66m, four metres below his best

In the 1500m Moloney was again impressive, clocking 4:53.73, while Dubler ran 4:47.57, to eventually lose to Moloney 8103 to his 8031 points. For Moloney it was a 65-point PB and moved him to number four Australian all-time, while for Dubler it was his fifth 8000-point score, which makes him the most successful in Australian history.

In third place was a very solid performance by Kyle Cranston. He was close or better in many events compared to his fifth place score at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. In Townsville he tallied 7702 points, within 100 of his PB. His good marks in Townsville were: javelin PB 64.41m, pole vault (4.70m), 1500m (4:35.48) and shot (13.77m).

Jetting in from Europe for the race was inform miler Matt Ramsden.

“I felt alright coming off a 30-hour flight,” said Ramsden.

After a slow first lap the pace picked up and was a sprint over the last lap.

“It was a 55 second last lap which wasn’t bad.”

He just held off two-time national medallist Rorey Hunter, 3:44.41 to 3:44.67. There was a close race for the bronze, with Kiwi teenager Samuel Tanner holding off Tasmania James Hansen 3:46.30 to 3:46.90.

Australian national junior record holder Jake Doran ran very impressively on his home track to nearly defeat Australian national champion, Ed Nketia 10.34 to 10.39. Jack Hale was third in 10.51.

There had been a break which can unsettled athletes.

“It is always frustrating when there is a false start, but we are all in the same boat. It turned out to be a really good race and everyone watching was entertained. We put on a show,” said Doran.

“Full credit to Eddie Nketia, he is a machine. I have raced him for a while now and seen him come through. The trans-Tasman rivalry is great.”

Other performances in brief:

• Returning from Europe, Brandon Starc cleared 2.22m in the high jump but was defeated by some extraordinary jumping from Kiwi Hamish Kerr who cleared 2.30m and came very close to 2.33m.
• Julie Charlton won the para javelin with a two metres PB registering a distance of 12.06m.
• National long jump champion, Henry Smith salvaged his competition with a good last round leap of 7.91m.
• James Turner (T36) ran a quick 400m in 53.24 to win the para 400m event.
• World University Games bound Georgia Griffith had a solid hit out to win the 1500m in 4:12.53. In second with a nearly two second PB was Bernadette Williams running 4:13.52. In third Sarah Billings was just outside her PB clocking 4:16.41.

David Tarbotton for Athletics Australia