T54 Marathon Preview - Golden prospects
Published Thu 05 Apr 2018
Men T54 Marathon
The Australian T54 Men’s marathon team features two athletes with five Paralympic campaigns, two Commonwealth Games appearances and five Para World Championship trips between them. With that long list of achievements, Kurt Fearnley (NSW) and Jake Lappin (VIC) have established themselves throughout the last decade as two of the most dominant wheelchair racers in Australia.
25-year old Lappin will make his major championship marathon debut on the Gold Coast, looking to build upon a career that has included a Paralympic Bronze in 2012 in the 4x100m relay, and a 10th place
Australian Paralympic stalwart Kurt Fearnley has a phenomenal resume, having collected fourteen Paralympic medals across his career, alongside two Commonwealth medals. Fearnley enters the event ranked 2nd with a time of 1:20:28 behind Ernst Francois van Dyk (RSA), who is not listed as competing.
Fearnley’s thirty-five career marathon wins place him in good stead to add more gold to an already substantial collection.
International competition is set to be provided by Alexandre Dupont (Canada), ranked 5th in the Commonwealth as a 1:31:27 marathoner. Simon Lawson (England) enters the race with two top fifteen finishes at the 2016 Paralympic Games (14th) and the 2015 Para World Championships (10th).
Women T54 Marathon
Making a Commonwealth Games event debut in 2018, Australia will be represented in the T54 Women’s wheelchair marathon by Eliza Ault-Connell (NSW) and Madison De Rozario (WA).
Ault-Connell previously represented Australia at the 2002 and 2006 editions of the Commonwealth Games, taking 3rd and 2nd respectively in the 800m event. Between those races, Ault-Connell secured a silver at the 2004 Paralympic Games 800m and silver and bronze medals at the 2002 and 2006 World Para Athletics Championships over 400m and 800m.
With this impressive international resume, Ault-Connell now takes on a new challenge as she makes her major championship marathon debut on the Gold Coast.
Three-time Paralympian De Rozario is arguably Western Australia’s best para-athletics competitor and is highly favoured to medal here. She comes into the Gold Coast Games ranked number one with a personal best of 1:39:22 over the marathon distance.
With a medal cabinet home to three Paralympic and six World Para Athletics championship medals, the 24-year old approaches the Commonwealth Games with the potential to add more silverware to the collection.
As a debut event, international competition is strong, with Diane Roy (Canada) the Games Record holder in the 1500m (3:52.83). Roy has a marathon best of 1:40:37, held the 5000m world record from
Sean Whipp for Athletics Australia
Follow all the action of the XXI Commonwealth Games
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.
- Athletics Australia on Instagram
- Media Guide for 2018 Commonwealth Games (PDF)
- Commonwealth Games Australia
- Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games
Tickets
You can still buy athletics tickets for Gold Coast Commonwealth Games including for finals sessions;
Don’t miss your chance to witness world-class competition live and cheer on the Aussie team.
TV and Digital
The Seven Network will broadcast content on all three of their TV channels - 7, 7TWO and 7Mate.
You can download the 7CommGames app from both the Google Play and Apple store or watch via the website version.
The app and website will have all events on TV and every medal event live, in full and available for free.
Athletics will be hosted by a huge team of athletics specialist led by Bruce McAvaney and
With Pat Welsh trackside and Melinda Gainsford-Taylor and Jane Flemming providing additional commentary.
How to listen on radio
ABC Local and Regional Stations – Updates throughout the day with live continuous
coverage from 7.00 pm
The ABC
Grandstand Digital DAB+ – broadcasting 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
ABC Online – ABC Grandstand will stream its Games coverage
Karen Tighe will host the broadcast with Quentin Hill covering Athletics along with Australia’s fastest man, Patrick Johnson providing expert commentary.