Countdown to Chemist Warehouse Australian Athletics Championships | Weekend Recap

A pair of wins at the Nagoya Half Marathon, seven Paralympic qualifiers, an Australian Under 20 4x100m relay record plus podium finishes at the NCAA Indoor Championships headlined a busy weekend, as Australia’s premier athletes countdown one month to go until the Chemist Warehouse Australian Athletics Championships.

Read our weekend recap below:

Across the ditch in New Zealand at the Sir Graeme Douglas International Track Meet, a number of Australians impressed as the Women’s Under 20 4x100m relay team consisting of Chelsea Scolyer (Greg James), Olivia Dodds (Lyn Foreman), Olivia Inkster (Melinda Gainsford-Taylor and Katie Edwards) and Jessica Milat (Cathy Woodruf) shattered the national record set in 2018 by 0.29 seconds.

It was a day for wins as Ellie Beer (Brett Robinson) continued her comeback to the track after winning Pacific Games gold last year, blitzing to a lifetime best and meet record of 51.77m in the 400m, ahead of New Zealand’s 400m hurdles specialist Portia Bing who also broke the meet record in 52.41. In the men’s event, Reece Holder (Sharon Dale) was narrowly defeated by Frenchman Teo Andant, when racing to second in 40.01 behind the eventual winner’s 45.99.

In the same distance over the sticks, Isabella Guthrie (Angus McEntyre) followed Beer's suit, crossing the line first in 58.15 – 0.43 seconds ahead of France’s Loan Ville.

Continuing the sprinting action, Bree Masters (Ryan Hoffman) celebrated a victory in the women’s 100m, clocking 11.36 (1.1) with Australia’s juniors Chelsea Scolyer (11.53) and Olivia Dodds (11.53) nabbing the remaining spots on the podium with World Under 20 Championships qualifiers, with the pair split by a photo finish.

Henry Frayne continued his domination, taking victory over two pools in the Men’s Long Jump, with a best of 7.97m (2.2), defeating Japanese duo Daiki Oda (7.92m) and Natsuki Yamakawa (7.84m) finished second and third.

Triple jumper Aiden Hinson (Chloe Stevens) landed his eighth best jump across his career and a season’s best when clinching second place with 16.28m. Tetteh Anang missed the podium by 5cm, with a best of 16.21m, beating Connor Murphy’s (Andrew Murphy) 16.16m.

While Sam McIntosh (Fred Periac) stole the show at the Capital Athletics Summer Series Meet with a Paralympic A qualifier for the 100m T52, when clocking 17.11 into a stubborn 1.7m/s headwind, a number of para athletes edged closer to the Paris Games with B qualifiers.

Impressing en route to a win at the Nagoya Half Marathon were a pair of Australians, with Natalie Rule (Tim O’Shaughnessy) breaking the tape in 1:13:57 as she continues her comeback after a year checkered with injury, while Ed Goddard (Gavin Burren) also took an easy win over the 21.1km race, crossing the finish line in 1:04:01.

Telaya Blacksmith (T20) achieved her first ever Australian team qualifying performance at the Blacktown High Velocity Meet, clocking 58.95 in the 400m, while wheelchair racer Angie Ballard (T53, Jamie Green) clinched another B qualifier over the same distance, racing across the line in 57.00.

The versatile Sarah Clifton-Bligh (F32, Louise Sauvage) achieved a new personal best in the shot put with a 5.94m throw for a B qualifier ahead of Paris, as Paralympic medallist Maria Strong (F33, John Eden) laid down a throw of 6.76m. Ella Hose (John Eden) followed suit with 10.23m in the F37 class, while Nick Hum (T20, John Boas) edges closer to his best achieved at the Tokyo Games with a 6.82m jump.

James Turner (Iryna Dvoskina) continued his momentum towards Paris, running the 200m T36 in an unofficial world record time of 23.70 – beating his previous world record of 24.09. While not on the Paralympic program, his efforts in the 200m are a part of training for the 100m and 400m sprints in Paris.

Like Turner, South Australian teenager Angus Hincksman (Simon Moran) toppled his own world record in the 800m T38, slashing 1.01 seconds off his previous best from the Chemist Warehouse Australian Athletics Championships last year to clock 1:56.32. The 800m in his class will not be contested in Paris, but adds to his strength in the 1500m T38.

The country’s collegiate contingent fired up for the NCAA Indoor Championships in Boston, with six Australians achieving top-8 finishes to earn First Team All-American honours. 2023 World Athletics Championships representative Adam Spencer (Wisconsin) was runner up in the mile, crossing the line in 4:01.92, after placing first in his heat in 3:57.08, while fellow distance runner Ky Robinson (Stanford) raced to the podium in the 5000m in 13:27.79, as Jackson Sharp (Wisconsin) placed eighth in 13:31.63. Robinson backed up for the 3000m the following day, racing to fifth place in 7:46.13.

Hayley Kitching (Penn State) delivered a 2:02.16 performance to narrowly miss the podium in the 800m, and Colby Eddowes (Arkansas State) finishing in 7^th place overall in the Men’s Hepathlon with a point score of 5,885 – breaking his school and conference hepthalon record. Eddowes achieved three personal bests in the 1000m (2:44.77), 60m Hurdles (7.99) and pole vault (4.66m).

At the NSW Junior Championships, Australia's next generation reigned surpreme with Sebastian Sultana warming up in his U20 200m heat with a World Junior Qualifier of 21.02, before clocking 20.84 in the final to mark his second fastest sprint around the bend in his career, while Shari Hurdman took out the Under 18 200m with a time of 24.30 to meet the mark required for the global championships alongside Sultana.  Hurdman's 200m win was particularly victorious having run the world junior qualifier in the 400m the day before when clocking 54.83.

Junior stars Gabriella Taylor ran 24.24 (0.5) to achieve the qualifier in the 200m, while Rashid Kabba continued his trajectory with qualifying times in the 100m (10.53, +1.3) and 13.86 (-0.4) in the 110m hurdles. 

By Sascha Ryner, Athletics Australia
Posted: 11/3/2023
Photo with thanks to Michael Dawson