WEEKEND REVIEW | BROWNING RUNS SUB 10 SECONDS AND CLIFFORD LOWERS HIS OWN WORLD’S BEST

Australia’s elite track and field athletes continued to impress ahead of the official start of the summer season, with a run for the history books by Rohan Browning and a world’s best lowered by Jaryd Clifford. 

Rohan Browning’s (Andrew Murphy) 9.96 performance in the 100m at the Illawarra Track Challenge saw him crack the 10-second-barrier for the first time ever, making him the second fastest Australian of all time over the distance.

Whilst the wind reading of +3.3 was illegal, the 23-year-old’s blistering run places him in rare company and within reach of the Tokyo qualifying standard of 10.05.

Big things are expected of Jaryd Clifford (Philo Saunders) every time steps on the track - and the T13 dual world champion delivers without fail. 

Clifford lowered his own 1500m T13 world’s best for the second time in a month on Thursday night at the Victorian Milers Club, when clocking a remarkable 3:44.36 over the journey to further etch his name into the history books. 

While the result is an unofficial world record given the meet wasn’t an IPC sanctioned event, the performance makes Clifford the fastest ambulant Paralympian ever – and at only 21-years-old, it may just be the tip of the iceberg for this tenacious competitor.

The women’s 1500m was taken out by Georgia Hansen (Stephen Ellinghaus) in a time of 4:20.10 ahead of 15-year-old Amy Bunnage (Tim O’Shaughnessy) who ran a swift 4:21.08, with Catriona Bisset (Peter Fortune) opening her account for 2021 with a third place finish and a time of 4:24.34.

Brittany Kaan (James Kaan) proved too classy in the women’s 800m, fending off the valiant youthful class of Abbey Caldwell (Gavin Burren) and Gigi Maccagnini (Peter Fortune) in the home straight to win in a time of 2:08.15.

Meanwhile in Victoria, Bendigo’s ‘5km Frenzy’ women’s title was won by Ellie Pashley (Julian Spencer) in a time of 16:08.63, whilst Andrew Buchanan won the men’s race with an impressive 14:21.86.

Western Australia’s status as Australia’s pole-vault capital continued with Kurtis Marschall (Paul Burgess and James Fitzpatrick) and Angus Armstrong (Paul Burgess and James Fitzpatrick) stringing together regular competitions, clearing 5.40m and 4.80m respectively.

The ACT Combined Events Championships saw Deon Kenzie (Philo Saunders) and Cam Crombie (Hamish MacDonald) compete in their respective disciplines.

Kenzie (T38 class) finished his 800m encounter in a time of 2:00.57, in a strong early-season performance that indicates the multiple time world champion is at the top of his game ahead of Tokyo.

Crombie (F38) launched the javelin at 41.56m to open his Paralympic campaign in 2021.

The sprints in Queensland saw Olympic hopefuls go head-to-head with their rivals in some early season competition, with a flurry of strong performance on the day.

Bree Masters (Ryan Hoffman) took out the 100m in convincing fashion when running 11.58 to finish ahead of Riley Day (Paul Pearce) in 11.71 seconds and Liz Clay (Sharon Hannan) who clocked 12.13.

Day turned the tables in the 200m, clinching the victory with a performance of 23.41, ahead of Masters in 23.53 and Clay in 24.35. 

Young talent Ellie Beer (Brett Robinson) also recorded strong showings across the two events, with a 12.21 in the 100m and 24.01 in the 200m providing a solid launching pad for the upcoming season.

Torita Blake, (T38, Wayne Leaver) launched into her Paralympic campaign for 2021, stopping the clock in the 100m in a time of 15.40 seconds. 

Competition is set to heat up again next weekend right through until Tuesday, 26th January at the Zatopek:10. 

By Lachlan Moorhouse
Posted: 17/1/2021