PREVIEW: Track | Paris Olympic Games

Not since 2012 has Australia won an Olympic medal on the track but the country’s hopes in 2024 are bolstered as world record holder Jessica Hull leads Australia’s resurgence in middle distance running, headlining the team of youth and experience across 20 different events. 

Overview

Since Tokyo 2020, Australian athletics has experienced a resurgence on the track, with more middle distance athletes shattering records and competing in the Diamond League than ever before. This momentum is set to continue in Paris, with nine national record holders making their mark at Stade de France from August 2.

Last Games cycle, only two athletes in Rohan Browning (NSW, Andrew Murphy) and Hana Basic represented Australia in the 100m, and this year that contingent has grown with Olympic debutants Ella Connolly (NSW, Andrew Murphy), Bree Masters (QLD, Ryan Hoffman) and Josh Azzopardi (NSW, Rob Marks) joining Browning in the blue ribband event - the 100m.

Browning may be Australia’s fastest man at 10.01-seconds – a lifetime best achieved in Tokyo, but was this year outdone by Azzopardi at both the Australian Athletics Championships and Oceania Championships, while Connolly and Masters make up one half of the current 4x100m relay team that shattered the Australian record this month.

Australia’s fastest woman Torrie Lewis (QLD, Andrew Iselin) will be one of three competing in the 200m, alongside Geelong product Mia Gross (VIC, John Nicolosi) and proud Wakka Wakka man Calab Law (QLD, Andrew Iselin), with Lewis being one to watch as the teenage sensation attempts to break Raelene Boyle’s Under 20 record of 22.74-seconds - set at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico.

Ellie Beer (QLD, Brett Robinson) returns for her second Olympic Games after racing in the 4x400m relay team in Tokyo but will this time compete individually, after claiming gold at the Pacific Games, Australian Athletics Championships and Oceania Championships in the last 12 months. Debutant Reece Holder (QLD, Sharon Dale and Chris Dale) joins Beer for a lap of the track in the men’s event, having dipped below the automatic qualifying standard with a 44.79 personal best at the World University Games last year. 

The sprinting action continues in the relays, when a record-breaking squad of Lewis, Masters, Connolly as well as Kristie Edwards (QLD, David Reid), Ebony Lane (VIC, Chris Dale) and Aleksandra Stoilova (NSW, Tevin Hester) enter the stadium for the 4x100m relay – an event in which the team qualified for in the first-round of the World Athletics Relay Championships in the Bahamas earlier this year. 

The men’s 4x100m squad is made up of Australia’s next generation of sprinters, with Browning, Azzopardi and Law coming together with Australian champion, 18-year-old Sebastian Sultana (NSW, Greg Smith), Jacob Depsard (TAS, Rolf Ohman) and Lachie Kennedy (QLD, Andrew Iselin), while Christopher Ius (NSW, Andrew Murphy) is the reserve.

Three of Australia’s fastest ever sprint hurdlers in Michelle Jenneke (NSW, Bronwyn Thompson), Liz Clay (QLD, David Reid and Sharon Hannan) and Celeste Mucci (VIC, Darren Clark) fill Australia's quota in the 100m hurdles, with Jenneke in career-best form after a scorching 12.65-second performance just weeks ago. 

Clay and Mucci return to the world stage, both having suffered injuries in recent years, ready to end their season on a high as Paris Olympians. Tayleb Willis ( VIC, Kyle Vander-Kuyp and Sam Leslie), the protégé of Deputy Chef de Mission Kyle Vander-Kuyp also makes his Olympic debut in the 110m hurdles after climbing up the world rankings with a best of 13.44 to become the third fastest Australian sprint hurdler of all time. 

Flying the flag in the 400m Hurdles is Sarah Carli (NSW, Melissa Smith) and Alanah Yukich (WA, Rose Monday), with the duo seeking to become the first person since Jana Pittman to qualify for an Olympic final in the event since 2004.

The nation fell in love with Peter Bol (WA, Justin Rinaldi) in 2021 when he became the first Australian to make the 800m Olympic final in 53 years, and the fourth-place getter will be back in action in Paris, joining Australian record holder at 1:43.99 Joseph Deng (QLD, Samuel Sepeng) and teenager Peyton Craig (QLD, Brendan Mallyon) on the start line. The trio make up the three fastest ever Australians over the distance, increasing the country’s chances of success in Paris.

After a hot domestic season for Australia’s 800m women, Catriona Bisset (VIC, Ned Brophy-Williams) leads a three-pronged attack, consisting of and 19-year-old Claudia Hollingsworth (VIC, Craig Mottram) and Commonwealth medallist Abbey Caldwell (VIC, Gavin Burren). Like their male counterparts, the three are ranked one, two and three on the Australian all-time list.

Never before has Australia earned a Women’s 1500m medal, but that may all change, with thanks to Jessica Hull (NSW, Simon Hull) who poses as a genuine medal threat after breaking the 2000m world record and shaving more than five seconds off the Australian 1500m record this year. The Albion Park product will be joined by soon-to-be three-time Olympian Linden Hall (VIC, Ned Brophy Williams) and Georgia Griffith (VIC, Nic Bideau) – both of whom have shown career-best form this year with personal best times.

Commonwealth champion Oliver Hoare (NSW, Dathan Ritzenhein) leads Australia’s quest in the men’s event, alongside Stewart McSweyn (TAS, Nic Bideau) and Adam Spencer (VIC, Mick Byrne). McSweyn will do the double, also taking on the 5000m as he continues to chase global medallist Craig Mottram’s Australian record of 12:55.76, alongside Morgan McDonald (NSW, Dathan Ritzenhein) who returns for his second Olympic Games.

Rose Davies (NSW, Scott Westcott) has shaved more than 25 seconds off her personal best over 5000m this year, setting a new Australian record of 14:41.65 and will toe the line alongside Isobel Batt-Doyle (SA, Nic Bideau) who became the fifth woman in Australian history to run sub-15 minutes. Lauren Ryan (VIC, Lara Rogers) will complete the Australian contingent in the event, before taking on the 10,000m as the Australian record holder. 

A quartet of steeplechasers are ready to attack, as Ben Buckingham (VIC, Craig Mottram) and Matthew Clarke (SA, Adam Didyk) go for their second bout at the Olympics, alongside Amy Cashin (VIC, Sean Cleary) and Olympic debutant and World University Games champion Cara Feain-Ryan (QLD, Ben Norton).

Sport Format

The 100m consists of a preliminary round for athletes that qualified through university placements, as well as three-rounds of heats, semi finals and a final. The longer distance events of Steeplechase too follow the three-round format, while the 5000m will see athletes compete in a heat and final. Ryan’s 10,000m is a one-round event as she takes on the world’s best in the final.

A new format begins in Paris for events 200m in distance through to 1500m and in the hurdles, with the repechage round ensuring that athletes run at least twice at the Olympic Games. In round one of the competition, athletes will progress to the semi-final based on their position across the finish line.

Those that do not advance will then return to the track and compete again, vying for one of the remaining six semi-final spots.  The semi-finals will then determine who competes for medals.

Competition schedule

Athletics begins on 1 August 2024 with the race walk for men and women at the Trocadero. 

Track and field will be held at Stade de France from 2-10 August.

The men’s and women’s marathon will be held on 10 and 11 August, respectively.

By Sascha Ryner, Athletics Australia and Australian Olympic Committee
Posted 31/07/2024