WEEKEND REVIEW | Aussies fly at NCAA Indoor Championships

Scorching results set tongues wagging amongst athletics fans over the weekend, but outside of the Sydney Track Classic and the FISU World University Cross Country Championships, the weekend belonged the rising stars of Australian athletics – our athletes in the USA collegiate system competing at the NCAA Indoor Championships

One of Australia’s most promising young distance runners, Ky Robinson (Stanford) has impressed throughout the indoor season in the USA, and once again stepped it up on the 200m banked track in Birmingham, Alabama.The Queenslander who has paved his way up the Australian ranks in the steeplechase, clocked 13:20.17 to win silver in the 5000m. Just one second behind first-place getter Northern Arizona’s Abdihamid Nur, Robinson’s time was second fastest by an Australian indoors, behind Ollie Hoare’s recent national record.  

Robinson was fourth at the bell, and nearly four seconds behind Nur in the lead, but the Australian unleashed a mighty kick, clocking the fastest 200m split of 27.55 of the race, to move into second place. The result was a 31 second indoor personal best.

Aussie pair Adam Spencer and Jackson Sharp helped Wisconsin University to a bronze medal in the men’s Distance Medley Relay. The race had spectators on the edge of their seats, with less than a second between the top four teams. Spencer led the team off with a 2:53.49 split in the 1200m leg. Sharp anchored the team over one mile, clocking 3:56.90. Sydney’s OIlie Raimond (Indiana) was also in the relay, clocking 1:48.76 for his 800m leg.

Australia had two women in the Distance Medley Relay with Izzy Thornton-Bott competing for Oregon and Carley Thomas for Washington. Thornton-Bott led her school off to a terrific start, passing the baton in third at 3:20.88. The team maintained that position to the finish, winning the bronze medal. Running the 800m leg, Thomas signalled she is getting back to her best form clocking 2:03.06 – the fastest split by any of the 12 teams.

In a perfect turn up for the World Athletics Indoor Championships next weekend, Lauren Ryan (Bob Braham, Florida State) placed fourth in the 3000m clocking 9:01.37.

Victorian and 2018 World Under 20 Championships representative Gary Haasbroek (Texas Tech) narrowly missed his own national record in the men’s heptathlon, placing seventh with a score of 5867 points. Except for the long jump, he compiled a much better series of marks than when he set the Australian record three years ago. Highlights from Haasbroek included a 13.15m mark in the shot put, 2.06m clearance in the high jump and a  5.16m in the pole vault. Whether he holds onto the Australian indoor hepathlon record is to be decided this weekend, as Tokyo bronze medallist Ash Moloney competes at his first indoor competition at the World Athletics Indoor Championships.

Australia had two women in the 5000m with Amelia Mazza-Downie (New Mexico) placing seventh in a PB time of 15:37.87, the third fastest in Australian history. Ruby Smee (San Francisco) was 12th in 16:02.77.

Competing for Florida University, the eventual winning women’s school, Imogen Barrett placed fifth in her 800m heat in a time of 2:04.48.

Outside of the NCAA Championships, two of Australia’s female marathoners Eloise Wellings (Nic Bideau) and Sinead Diver (Nic Bideau) were all in to compete at the Nagoya Women’s Marathon – an event that boats the largest first-place prize money in the world of marathon running; $250,000.

In just the third marathon of her career, Wellings clocked 2:25:10 to finish in sixth place, and skyrocketed to fourth place on the Australian all-time list behind Diver, and in front of four-time Olympian Lisa Weightman. The result is her best by more than four minutes and places her as the fastest qualified athlete for the World Athletics Championships in Oregon and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games later this year.  Diver registered a DNF, unable to keep running after the 35km mark.

The attention will now turn to our athletes overseas competing at the World Athletics Indoor Championships this weekend, as well as at Lakeside Stadium for the Melbourne Track Classic. Purchase tickets to the Melbourne Track Classic here.

By David Tarbotton and Sascha Ryner, Athletics Australia
Posted: 14/3/2022