Australia’s top teenagers will kick-start what promises to be a historic Australian Athletics Championships beginning in Perth this week, with the next generation of household names set to sow the seeds of stardom at the WA Athletics Stadium from April 4-8.
Competing at the pinnacle event of underage athletics in Australia as part of the Chemist Warehouse Summer Series, 2008 athletes from the Under 13 to Under 18 ranks will battle it out for podium finishes and national pride, headlined by a handful of athletes who have already made their mark on the record books and world stage.
From local talent and Australian 100m Under 16 record holder Emilia Reed (WA) to World Under 20 bronze medallist in the long jump Mason McGroder (NSW), the established names are prominent throughout the five-day program – while others will announce themselves for the first time.
Last month it was the 14-year-old Reed who rocketed to a new personal best of 11.49 (+1.9) to take down Australia’s fastest woman Torrie Lewis’ Under 16 Australian record of 11.57-seconds – placing herself on a steep trajectory.
McGroder clinched a slice of history as Australia’s youngest ever medallist at the World Under 20 Championships at just 15-years-old in Lima, Peru last year when posting a 7.80m (-0.1) personal best in challenging conditions – leaving him within reach of becoming just the 16th boy in global history to surpass eight-metres in the event as an Under 18 athlete.
Fellow World Under 20 representatives Thewbelle Philp (QLD) and Jonathan Kasiano (QLD) will also look to leverage their international experience in the race to be crowned Australia’s fastest Under 18 athletes, but they won’t have it all their own way against the likes of Amaya Mearns (QLD), Leah O’Brien (WA) and Zavier Peacock (NSW) in the blue ribbon events.
16-year-old Lucas Chis (VIC) continued his rise with a personal best of 3:43.70 over 1500m at last week’s Maurie Plant Meet – Melbourne and owns 1:50.70 credentials over 800m ahead of tackling the middle-distance double in Perth, while Emma Fryga (QLD) also raced at the Word Athletics Continental Tour Gold meet and has posted personal bests of 2:03.37 (800m) and 4:24.20 (1500m) at 15-years-old.
Western Australian thrower Lauren Kelly will once again attempt the Under 18 throws triple, but her hottest competition will come in the discus throw where she will meet Queensland’s Riley-Jay Henry-Purcell. While Henry-Purcell holds the ascendency in the personal best stakes at 51.14m, it is Kelly who is ahead in 2025 with her 50.28m seasons best – setting up an enticing showdown.
A pair of Australian record breakers from the 2024 Australian All Schools Athletics Championships are set to return to the fray in Perth, coming in the form of Cameron Badger (NSW) and Ken Ferrante Tanikawa (SA). Ferrante will return to the 110m hurdles having shattered Sasha Zhoya’s national Under 16 record in December, now locking horns with Badger once again who holds the Australian Under 16 record in the 200m hurdles.
Multi-eventer Sophie Williams (WA) is poised to relish her opportunity to shine in front of a home crowd, having landed herself on the map with an Australian Under 16 record in the heptathlon at the 2024 Australian Athletics Championships – taking down Olympian Jane Jamieson’s 33-year national record with a score of 5515 points.
The top seeds across the championships in the pole vault for girls and boys belong to Victorian duo Jamison Harding and Felix Hattwich at 4.10m and 4.65m respectively, while Australian Under 16 record holder in the javelin Tallara Joseph-Riogi (NSW) will be another name to watch with a 51.69m career-best and Australian Under 16 record holder over 400m Seth Kennedy (QLD) gets ready to launch for one lap.
The 2025 Australian Athletics Championships is the final stop of the Chemist Warehouse Summer Series, and is supported by the WA Government through Tourism Western Australia, Venueswest and Athletics West.
Tickets can be purchased HERE.
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Australian Athletics
Posted: 2/5/2025
