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Stratton eyes qualifier at London Diamond League

Published Sun 09 Jul 2017

Eurosport Australia will broadcast the London Diamond League meet from 11:00pm AEST Sunday night.

Since making the Olympic long jump final Brooke Stratton has scarcely gone down the runway, but she has done all she can whilst on the sidelines to qualify for the London world championships in August.

The 23-year-old set a personal best and Australian record of 7.05 metres prior to going on to place seventh in Rio, but since then a number of injuries hit the Victorian including a ligament sprain in her foot leading to a stress reaction followed by a recent groin injury.

Despite all those setbacks she is still on course to compete in the English capital with two competitions yielding jumps beyond 6.50 metres and enough confidence to aim for a bigger leap at the Diamond League meeting in London on Sunday night Australian time.

“I am slowly getting there,” Stratton said.

“It has been very tough with minimal preparation leading into this European block.

“Just as I got back into some jumping after my foot injury, I then had to take time off with my groin injury, so things were very interrupted.

“I have done a lot less jumping than what I had hoped but I have had two competitions over 6.50 so I am very excited for the weekend and to hopefully go close to that 6.75-metre mark.

“I am confident I can do it and I feel like each competition is getting technically better, it’s all about believing you can do it.”

Stratton has a season’s best of 6.57m set in Townsville last month before she made her way to Europe and recorded a 6.55m for fifth at the Gyulai István Memorial in Hungary.

Others jumping in the Diamond League meeting, which will act as a dress rehearsal for the world championships, will be American stars Brittney Reese, the 2012 Olympic champion (7.13m SB) and reigning Olympic champion Tianna Bartoletta (7.01m SB).

 

Men’s 1500m

Australians: Ryan Gregson (3:34.37 SB), Luke Mathews (3:35.57 SB) and Jordan Williamsz (3:36.87 SB)

The three fastest Australian men over 1500m this season toe the line at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park against a field featuring a host of British milers including Charlie Grice, Robbie Fitzgibbon, Chris O’Hare and Tom Marshall. Two of the three Kenyans, Bethwell Birgen (3:32.27) and Vincent Kibet (3:32.66), have the quickest times in the field for 2017.

 

Women’s 100m hurdles

Australian: Sally Pearson (12.74 SB)

Pearson clocked 12.76 in Hungary last week in a race that world record holder Kendra Harrison set a blazing world leading mark of 12.28 – equal to the Australian’s personal best. Also in the race is Jasmin Stowers from the United States who is the only other woman in the field to dip under 12.50 this season.

 

Women's mile

Australian: Linden Hall (4.28.21 PB/SB)

Hall, who has two 1500m world championship qualifiers to her name after dipping under the required 4:07.50 in both Portland and Eugene this year, enters the women's mile race off the back of her personal best performance over the traditional distance at the Lausanne Diamond League meeting last Thursday. The Victorian will find herself once again up against a world class field including British record holder Laura Muir, Rio Olympic 5000m silver medallist Hellen Obiri from Kenya and American miler Jenny Simpson.

 

Men’s 110m hurdles

Australian: Nicholas Hough (13.50 SB)

Sydney University Athletic Club's Nick Hough lines up in the sprint hurdles just days after setting a new season's best of 13.50 seconds (w: +1.2) in France, an agonising 0.02 seconds off a world championships qualifier. The fastest man on the entry list, Ronald Levy who has a season’s best of 13.05, will be joined by American world record holder Aries Merritt who has returned to some form. Hough has already confirmed his place to wear the green and gold as a member of the Australian Uniroos who are heading to Taipei, Taiwan for the World University Games in late August.

 

Women’s javelin

Australians: Kathryn Mitchell (66.12 PB) and Kelsey-Lee Roberts (64.06 PB)

Both Mitchell and Roberts threw personal bests in Lausanne, with the pair placing third and fourth respectively at the Diamond League meeting. Croatian Sara Kolak, the winner in Switzerland, is also throwing along with world record holder Barbora Spotakova.

 

Men’s 3000m

Australians: Sam McEntee (7:53.48 SB) and Patrick Tiernan (7:39.28 PB)

Tiernan is in form and only recently clocked his personal best at the Paris Diamond League becoming only the third Australian man to run under 7:40 over the distance. He and McEntee will be up against four-time Olympic champion and local favourite Mo Farah who has a season’s best of 7:41.20 set in Kingston. Also in the race is Spain's Adel Mechaal, who ran 7:35.28 in Paris.

 

Men's 4x100m relay

Australians: Trae Williams, Rohan Browning, Nicholas Andrews, Tom Gamble, Alex Hartmann.

Australian 100m champion Trae Williams will be joined on track by Nicholas Andrews, Rohan Browning, Tom Gamble and Alex Hartmann in what will be a perfect dress rehearsal for the upcoming world championships. The Australian men's team qualified at the IAAF World Relay Championships and will use the Diamond League meeting to refine their passing as they go up against teams from England, USA and Portugal among others.