Supersized and Superstar Australian Under 20 Team Bound for Lima

Australia will send its biggest and boldest team yet to the 2024 World Under 20 Championships, as a star-studded contingent of 68 athletes featuring sprint sensation Torrie Lewis and world Under 20 champion Isaac Beacroft descend upon Lima, Peru this August.

Serving up both quality and quantity from down under to the world, Australia’s athletics boom will be in full swing as the nation’s rising stars follow in the footsteps of their Olympic counterparts in Paris just weeks earlier, spurring the next generation towards Brisbane 2032.

Featuring 35 women and 33 men, the team strikes a balance of experience and excitement, with Olympic-bound middle-distance star Claudia Hollingsworth, World Under 20 champion race walker Isaac Beacroft, Diamond League sprint winner Torrie Lewis and world age record holder Cameron Myers leading a host of debutants – the youngest of which is 15-year-old Mason McGroder.

One of eight returning members from the 2022 World Under 20 Championships held in Cali, Hollingsworth highlighted the significance of the opportunity in her development alongside the 2022 World Championships (Open), having already punched her ticket to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

“Going in with little to no international race experience in 2022 was very daunting. I never regret putting myself out there on the start line even though I didn’t perform to my ability,” Hollingsworth said.

“Both those championships have made me a much stronger and more resilient athlete. They taught me how to bounce back from difficult circumstances and how to compose myself during major meets, and it has now given me the opportunity to go in with more confidence and knowledge.

“World Under 20’s keeps everything in perspective. It’s always a reminder of my age and how young I am to even be competing at Open international championships whilst still eligible for Under 20s, and how this is only the start of my career. I hopefully have a long way to go.”

Triple jumper Tiana Boras also returns after clinching Australia’s first ever major championships medal in the event with bronze in Cali, while the arrivals of Australia’s fastest man Sebastian Sultana, excitement machine Gout Gout and the versatile Izobelle Louison-Roe add more firepower to the team.

Bypassing his Under 20 rivals at the Chemist Warehouse Australian Athletics Championships to topple the country’s fastest men in the Open ranks, 18-year-old Sultana is keeping a measured approach as Australia’s new crop of stars land in Lima.

“I want to bring a very encouraging attitude to the world stage. I know that we have the potential to go really well and make Australia proud,” Sultana said.

Featuring seven current Australian Under 20 record holders in individual events with 12 records between them, plus the men’s and women’s 4x100m squads who have already inked the record books in 2024, the team stakes its claim as one of the strongest in Australian history.

“We have a really strong group of young athletes that make up the team. Some of them are national senior champions, which is a measure of the level they’re performing at, and many others have a really good chance of achieving a top-eight finish,” said Athletics Australia General Manager - High Performance, Andrew Faichney.

“Regardless of the level of athlete, our main aim is to provide an environment where they can learn the lessons that can set them up for the future, either within athletics, or elsewhere. From an athletics standpoint, we want the athletes to learn how to perform with pressure, deal with travel and time change, and maximise their performance on the day it counts.”

Adding to the Australian presence in Lima, Athletics Australia also recognises and congratulates national technical officials Kirsteen Farrance (VIC, World Athletics Referee) and Zoe Eastwood-Bryson (SA, International Race Walking Judge) who have been appointed to key roles within the event’s officiating panel.

Australia’s team for the 2024 World Athletics Under 20 Championships will complete a camp on the Gold Coast from June 20-23, before flying to Lima, Peru in August for the championships to be held August 27-31.

Australian Team for the 2024 World Athletics Under 20 Championships:

Women

100m: Aleksandra Stoilova (NSW, Tevin Hester), Torrie Lewis (QLD, Andrew Iselin)

200m: Jessica Milat (VIC, Cathy Woodruff), Lewis

400m: Amelia Rowe (WA, Brian Pozzi), Jemma Pollard (NSW, Tim Eschebach)

800m: Fleur Cooper (NSW, Ben Liddy), Claudia Hollingsworth (VIC, Craig Mottram)

1500m: Ada Rand (NSW, Ben Liddy), Cleo Richardson (VIC, Gavin Burren)

3000m: Gabrielle Schmidt (QLD, Kerry Schreiber), Amy Bunnage (VIC, JJ Clark)

5000m: Schmidt, Bunnage

100m Hurdles: Delta Amidzovski (NSW, Becky Amidzovski & Roger Fabri), Amali Butcher (VIC, Anula Costa)

400m Hurdles: Sienna Farrell (VIC, Daniel Martin), Alesha Bennetts (ACT, Matt Beckenham)

3000m Steeplechase: Mia Toohey (NSW, Jacinta Doyle), Allegra McGivern (NSW, Ben Liddy)

10,000m Race Walk: Alexandra Griffin (WA, Jared Tallent), Chelsea Roberts (NSW, Dennis Coker & Frank Overton)

High Jump: Izobelle Louison-Roe (NSW, Karen Roe), Toby Stolberg (QLD, Marty Stolberg)

Pole Vault: Tryphena Hewett (SA, Pat Todd & Kym Simons)

Long Jump: Amidzovski, Mia Scerri (VIC, Rob Stevens & Ralph Newton)

Triple Jump: Tiana Boras (VIC, Alwyn Jones), Louison-Roe

Shot Put: Xylavene Beale (VIC, Gus Puopulo), Marley Raikiwasa (SA, Patrick Ebel)

Discus Throw: Chelsy Wayne (NSW, Denis Knowles), Raikiwasa

Heptathlon: Scerri

4x100m Relay: Lewis, Stoilova, Milat, Olivia Dodds (WA, Lyn Foreman), Thewbelle Philp (QLD, Leanne Hines-Smith), Olivia Inkster (NSW, Katie Edwards & Melinda Gainsford-Taylor), Chelsea Scolyer (TAS, Greg James)

4x400m Relays: Rowe, Pollard, Charlotte McAuliffe (SA, Nik Hagicostas), Sophia Gregorevic (VIC, Steve Gaffney), Bella Pasquali (VIC, Jason Boulton), Ella Penman (NSW, Mark Penman)

Men

100m: Gout Gout (QLD, Diane Sheppard), Sebastian Sultana (NSW, Greg Smith)

200m: Gout, Sultana

400m: Terrell Thorne (QLD, Chris Dale), Jett Grundy (QLD, Teague Peck)

800m: Hayden Todd (ACT, Philo Saunders), Peyton Craig (QLD, Brendan Mallyon)

1500m: Daniel Williams (NSW, Andrew Rowlings), Cameron Myers (ACT, Dick Telford)

3000m: Ky Hehir (WA, Matthew Ramsden), Myers

110m Hurdles: William Wong (VIC, Eric Wong & Max Binnington), Rashid Kabba (NSW, Hayden Kovacic & Dan Suchy)

400m Hurdles: Matt Hunt (NSW, Ron Bendall)

3000m Steeplechase: Toby Chippendale (QLD, Ben Norton)

10,000m Race Walk: Isaac Beacroft (NSW, David Beacroft), Marcus Wakim (VIC, Adam Garganis)

High Jump: Mitchell Hatfield (NSW, Leanne Pejkovic)

Long Jump: Mason McGroder (NSW, Matt Wade), Jesuye Doherty (SA, Deborah Gayen)

Triple Jump: Alex Epitropakis (QLD, Stacey Taurima)

Shot Put: Robert Marchesi-Scott (WA, Grant Ward)

Discus Throw: Ethan Ayodele (ACT, Les Bottles), Darcy Giddings (VIC, Robert Holzer)

Javelin Throw: Edward Rogan (QLD, Lukas Cannon)

Decathlon: Jack Whiteside (WA, Chelsea Whiteside)

4x100m Relay: Sultana, Gout, Archer McHugh (VIC, Alistair Tait), Frankleen Newah-Jarfoi (VIC, Daniel Sneyders), Zach Della Rocca (VIC, Robert Abdullah), Cody Hasler (NSW, Rob Marks), Jonathan Kasiano (QLD, Diane Sheppard)

4x400m Relays: Thorne, Grundy, Jordan Gilbert (VIC, Michael Gilbert), Adam Beiers (QLD, Rajeev Balakrishnan), Jack Deguara (NSW, Katie Smee), Caleb Kilpatrick (VIC, Joe Gulli)

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 9/5/2024