Sprint Preview - Australia’s medal contender
Published Mon 02 Apr 2018
Men's 100m
Trae Williams (Qld) announced himself as Australia’s newest sprint king when he clocked 10.10s at the Commonwealth Trials in February to become the fourth fastest ever Australian over 100m. In the process “Quadzillaâ€, as he is nicknamed, rocketed into Games medal contention.
It was the culmination of an outstanding season which saw him equal or better his personal best each time he stepped onto the track with a series of quick times 10.21w, 10.24, 10.23, 10.21, 10.21 before defending his national title. The only other Australians to have run faster are Patrick Johnson, Matt Shirvington and Josh Ross.
The 20-year old Queenslander, who does not like to race in individual events close to major meets, had his last hitout before the Games in the 4 x 100m relay at the Brisbane International Meet prompting former 100m World Champion Yohan Blake (JAM) to claim the Australian may be “scaredâ€.
Williams took the comments as mere chest-puffing sprinter talk and is looking forward to taking on his rival when
28-year-old Blake is the clear favourite for 100m gold and produced the world's second-quickest time (9.90) last year. His best time of 9.69 in 2012 stands as the second-fastest time in history, bettered only by countryman Usain Bolt.
Fellow Jamaican Julian Forte and Englishman Adam Gemili, the 2014 Commonwealth silver medallist, are also ones to watch.
Rohan Browning (NSW), Josh Clarke (NSW) are also in good shape with seasons’ bests of 10.19 and 10.26 respectively.
Browning's 2017/18 domestic season was momentous. In December he opened with a stunning 20.54w 200m and two weeks later smashed his 100m best clocking 10.19, defeating all contenders. There were more quick times in Canberra in January including two 200m PBs. He ran times of 10.25, 10.31, 10.23, 20.94 and 20.71.
At the Australian championships in February, he won his heat in 10.32, semi 10.27 and in the final placed second in 10.20, behind Trae Williams and was later named in the Australian team for the Commonwealth Games in the 100m and 4 x 100m relay.
Clarke kicked off the domestic season in top form running a windy 10.23 in October. He raced on 11 occasions, significantly more than he had in previous years due to injury. His best was 10.26, his fifth fastest ever, but his consistency was a new level for him. Competing at his first Australian Championship for three years, he was solid through the heats, negotiating three races in two days and placing third in the final in 10.31. He was selected for the Commonwealth Games in the 100m and 4x100m and will make his long-awaited senior international debut on the Gold Coast.
John Treloar (N) is Australia’s only gold medallist (1960) in the men’s 100y/100m, and since the event became 100m in 1970, no Australian has won a medal.
Men's 200m
Alex Hartman (Qld), Australia’s finest 200m athlete in recent years, comes into the Games in great shape having run several times just outside his personal best of 20.45 set in 2016. In January, the Queenslander opened his season with a lifetime best, albeit wind-aided performance, of 20.44. His final race before the Games was at the Brisbane Queensland International Track Classic placing third in 21.14 (-0.9) behind Isaac Makwala Botswana’s 400m African-record holder.
Men's 400m
US-based Steven Solomon is the sole competitor in the 400m and recently returned to the form that saw him run 44.97 to make the final of the Olympic Games in 2012.
On 23 February in South Carolina at his region indoor championships, he ran 45.44, smashing the late Daniel Batman’s old Australian 400m record 45.93.
Four years ago, Solomon overcame injury to make the start line in Glasgow in 2014 and advanced from the heats but could not progress further.
Five Australians have won the 400m at the Games, the most recent being John Steffensen (N) in 2006
Isaac Makwala (BOT) is the man to beat. The African record-holder with 43.72 from 2015 rounded out preparation for the Games with a win over 200m in 20.51 (-0.9) at the Brisbane International Meet on 28 March 2018.
Women's 100m
Melissa Breen makes her third Games appearance in the women’s 100m. The national 100m record-holder with her outstanding 11.11 from 2014 has overcome a leg injury to take to the start line as Australia’s only entrant in the women's 100m. She will also take part in the 4 x 100m later in the program. The ACT-based sprinter ran 11.49 in Brisbane in December, her fastest of the domestic season.
In the absence of Olympic Champion Elaine Thomson, who has elected to the run the 200m only,
Women's 200m
Victorian Maddie Coates had a breakthrough this 2017/18 season as she lowered her 100m best to 11.59. Over the 200m she broke her personal best on four occasions, highlighted by 23.06 to place second in the 2018 national championship on the Gold Coast and secure automatic selection for the Commonwealth Games.
Riley Day (Qld), who celebrated her 18th birthday just before moving into the Games village this week, is in the shape of her life. After a low-key start to the 2017/18 domestic season, the Queenslander ran a 100m personal best of 11.52 in January. At the Commonwealth Games trials, she predictably won the 100m in 11.56, but it was over 200m that she astonished the athletics community by clocking 22.93 into a 1.7m/s wind. The time was the third fastest in Australian junior history behind the high-altitude performances of Raelene Boyle and Jenny Lamy in Mexico City and also moved Riley to number 13 on the all-time list.
After winning the NSW sprint double in early February, Larissa Pasternatsky (NSW) placed third in the 200m at the national championships, running a personal best and CG qualifier of 23.27 into a strong headwind. Not initially selected for the Commonwealth Games team, she was added after the withdrawal of Ella Nelson.
Jamaica's double Olympic sprint Champion Elaine Thompson has elected to run the 200m only.
Women’s 400m
Anneliese Rubie (NSW) comes into the Games fitter than ever, no doubt due to concentrating on the 800m in 2017. The 2014 Glasgow semifinalist returned to her pet event this season for a tilt at a second Commonwealth berth and she has led the national rankings all summer, starting with 52.17 in December. The Sydney-sider won the NSW Championships in February before going on to win the national title at the Commonwealth Games trials clocking 51.92 – her equal second fastest time matching what she had run in her heat at the Rio Olympics.
Hot on Rubie’s heels all summer has been this season’s find of the women’s one-lapper, Ethiopian-born
An injury in late 2017 hampered her summer season, but when she started she was brilliant, first running a PB of 52.48 seconds at the NSW Championships. In mid-February at the Australian Championships and Commonwealth Games trials, she placed second in another significant PB time of 51.94 seconds, which was an A qualifier and secured her automatic selection for the Games. Her time made her the third fastest junior (under-20) in Australian history, behind Cathy Freeman and Jana Pittman.
Victorian Morgan Mitchell is the fastest of the Australian trio with her personal best of 51.25s set in 2015 in Birmingham. It was the fastest time by an Australian for 13 years, elevated 12 places on the Australian All-Time List where she sits as our seventh fastest in history. The following year she was a semi-finalist at the Rio Olympic Games and ran outstanding flying legs of 50.97 and 50.52 in the heat and final, as the team finished eighth in the Olympic final.
After a challenging 2017, including a change of coach, she went undefeated in five races over 400m in the lead up to nationals where she placed third in a season’s best 52.69s.
Jamaica's Olympic bronze medallist Shericka Jackson and compatriot Stephenie Ann McPherson, the defending champion, are expected to lead the challenge for gold.
Preview for Mens T38 100m, Women’s T38 100m and T35 to follow.
Pat Birgan and David Tarbotton for AA
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The 2018 Commonwealth Games will be held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, from Wednesday 4 April to Sunday 15 April 2018.
Athletics action kicks off on Sunday 8 April and continues until Sunday 15 April.
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