Push for Points | Weekend Wrap Up

With just a mere week left until the qualification deadline for the upcoming World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Australia’s finest athletes are leaving no stone unturned in their ardent pursuit of securing converted spots on the international stage.

Around globe and on home soil, athletes have embarked on quests to seize those last chance qualifiers, and are striving to amass crucial world ranking points that could prove to be the decisive factor in wearing the green and gold next month.

Distance frenzy continues

While Australia’s distance athletes made headlines on the Diamond League circuit, Peter Bol (Justin Rinaldi) continued to flex his form in Hungary and Spain, adding to his impressive collection of results since making his return to the track in Europe. In Hungary, the Tokyo fourth-place getter came away with a win and another Olympic qualifier in the 800m in 1:44.48, after narrowly edging out Frenchman Gabriel Tual (1:44.55) and a sixth place in Spain clocking 1:45.03, as his training partner, Australian record Joseph Deng (Justin Rinaldi) ran another 1:44 time in Monaco.

That wasn’t all from the country’s distance stocks with Georgia Griffith (Nic Bideau) and Sarah Billings (Collis Birmingham) clocked up more 1500m race experience, with Griffith posting 4:06.11 for sixth place in Spain, to Billings 4:10.52 as she continues a breakthrough season.

Fellow 800m specialists Lachlan Raper (Ben Liddy), Riley McGown (Des Proctor) and Jye Perrott (Ben Liddy) all enjoyed their placings in the 1:46 taking fifth (1:46.62), sixth (1:46.67) and seventh place (1:46.95) respectively in Celle Ligure.

Also in Hungary, Tokyo Olympian Ben Buckingham (Craig Mottram) continues to build back to his best form, crossing the line eighth in the 3000m Steeplechase to record the fifth fastest time of his career and a season’s best of 8:25.07.

Outside of Europe, Australia’s collegiate contingent excelled as former Oregon Duck, Charlie Hunter (Pete Julian) cruised to fourth place at the Under Armour Sunset Tour in Los Angeles clocking 1:46.22 in his bid for Budapest. Morgan McDonald (Dathan Ritzenhein) just missed out on the podium in his first race of the year, clocking 13:24.54 – a time that sits well within his top-10 performances across the distance. With his confidence still high after claiming the NCAA title Ky Robinson (Ricardo Santos) also achieved his eighth best performance of his career, stopping the clock at 13:36.60. Imogen Barrett continues to edge closer to the 2-minute barrier in the 800m, with a 2:01.80 time for sixth place, while 2022 World Championships representative Brielle Erbacher (Jody Erbacher) finished the 3000m Steeplechase in 10:16.52.

Sprinters paradise

The cream of Australia’s sprinting crop enjoyed a happy hunting ground across Europe as Australia’s fastest man Rohan Browning (Andrew Murphy) led the way in Celle Ligure, Italy notching up another win. Clocking 10.17 (-0.2), Browning took command of the sprint down the home straight leaving his nearest competitor trailing behind by 0.21.

In the B-race, Michael Romanin (John Nicolosi) and Christopher Ius (Andrew Murphy) stormed around the bend in the 200m, crossing the line third in 21.24 (0.2) while his countrymen finished a split second behind in 21.25 as he warmed up for the London Diamond League Men’s 4x100m relay just four days later. Victorian Romanin showed consistency throughout the week, clocking 21.26 (-0.9) in Merano over 200m and 10.64 down the straight.

Competing in both Merano and Celle Ligure, training partners Mia Gross (John Nicolosi) and Hana Basic (John Nicolosi) enjoyed sweet success at the latter, as Geelong’s Gross clocked her sixth fastest ever time over 100m (11.65, -1.0) placing third as Olympian Basic crossed the line just behind in 11.91.

Rising sprint hurdler Jacob McCorry (Alex Stewart) found himself on the podium in Spitzen, switzerland registering a time of 13.87 for third place, while Australia’s premier 400m hurdler Sarah Carli (Melissa Smith) clocked up two consistent performances in Spain and Switzerland, with her 55.11 as her best time of the week for fifth place in Madrid, and a sixth place finish in 55.78 in Luzern.  Nick Andrews (Tim O'Neil) also ran to his sixth fastest time of 13.69 (0.4) in the 100m hurdles in Finland, backing it up with a 13.84 run and silver medal in the final.

Field of Dreams

Aiming for major championships number 13, the evergreen Henry Frayne (Gary Bourne) produced four consistent jumps to land a best of 7.83m for fifth place as one of three Australian field athletes to line up in Spitzen, Switzerland.

Veteran Kathryn Mitchell (Uwe Hohn) was the best of Australia’s javelin athletes out in full force in Europe, launching the spear to a quality 60.29m in Switzerland to narrowly miss the podium. Lianna Davidson (Texas A&M) achieved the 10^th furthest throw of her burgeoning career with a best of 53.12 to finish in eighth in Lappeenranta, Finland.

Also in Finland, a trio of Australia’s horizontal jumpers took charge as  Zane Branco (David Reid) and Connor Murphy (Andrew Murphy) left the meet with bronze in the Long Jump and Triple Jump respectively. World Under 20 Championships representative Branco leapt to 7.70m, while produced the second best performance of his young career, landing a mark of 16.35 as Julian Konle (Gary Bourne) finished in eighth place with a best of 14.83m.

Erin Shaw (Alex Stewart) rounded out the field action for Australia, placing ninth in the Women’s High Jump with a clearance of 1.80m in Spain.

Striking towards glory

World number three Jemima Montag (Brent Vallance) took charge at the Athletics Victoria Winter Walks Championships in Melbourne as she warms up for Budapest World Athletics Championships. Clocking 1:29:10 in a race of two, Montag was left to her own devices, working by herself over the Melbourne roads to cross the finish line in 1:29.10 – less than two minutes shy of her own Australian record.  Charlotte Hay completed her second 20km walk in 1:51.41.

In the junior ranks, Canberran teen Owen Toyne (Matt Giggs) took the win from Riley Coughlan (Fran Attard) over Under 18 10km, clocking 43:55 for a new personal best, while Coughlan closed out the competition in 45:01. Jemma Peart finished the championships with a season’s best of 52:27.

Pavement pounders light up Sydney roads

Amongst more than 5,600 weekend warriors, Genevieve Gregson (Collis Birmingham) and Ed Goddard (Gavin Burren) reigned supreme at the first Sydney Harbour 10km since the lockdowns lifted.

Taking out the title in the strong elite male field was local man Goddard who won in 29:37 ahead of Olympian Ryan Gregson who finished in second place in 29:49. Third place was taken out by Arron Spiessberger-Parker.

Three-time Olympic finalist Genevieve Gregson led the women’s field in 32:19, closely followed by Leanne Pompeani (Des Proctor) in 32:22, with Eloise Wellings rounding out the podium in 32:58.

In the 5km event, it was two-time Olympian and Pompeani’s training partner Zoe Buckman (Des Proctor) who took out the 5km in the women’s event in 16:38 as she trains towards the Australian Cross Country Championships next month.

By Sascha Ryner, Athletics Australia
Posted: 24/7/2023