A home crowd hero, personal bests galore, and a string of breakout performances – Day One of the 2025 Australian Athletics Championships had it all, as Western Australia’s Sophie Williams returned to the national stage in style, proving the next generation is ready to step into the spotlight.
The Perth crowd had plenty to cheer for as Australian Under 16 record holder Williams (WA) made her return to the national stage for the Under 17 Girls Heptathlon, posting her first four of seven events.
A statement victory of 14.30 (-1.3) for 936 points in the 100m hurdles opened proceedings, followed by topping the rankings in the high jump with 1.66m, throwing a personal best of 12.50m in the shot put and clocking 26.06 (-3.2) in the 200m – finishing the opening day on a score of 3228 points.
Meanwhile in the Under 17 Boys Decathlon, Spencer De Lacy (SA) is locked in a battle with New Zealand’s Connor Brady heading into Day Two of competition, trailing with a score of 3140 to Brady’s 3503 – despite the Kiwi being ineligible for the Australian title.
Connor Hopgood (QLD) set the tone for the championships in one of the first events of Day One, crushing the field in the Under 18 Boys Hammer Throw with a throw of 73.86m to win by over eight metres, while Fernanda Tirado (VIC) was the top performing female with 62.38m in the Under 17 Girls ranks.
The middle-distance action was led by 14-year-old Eliza Lawton (NSW) who turned on the jets at the bell lap of the Under 16 Girls 1500m, blazing to a new personal best of 4:20.35 to win by a margin of over six seconds ahead of local talent Lia Watters (WA) in 4:27.18.
Evan Rowbotham (NSW) was equally impressive when saluting as the favourite in the Under 16 Boys 1500m in 4:02.08, while Victoria’s Archie Sideridis was a runaway winner a tactical 4:14.91 in the Under 15 event.
Continuing the middle distance magic was Zoe Schultz (VIC) in the U17 800m Ambulant event, with the T38 athlete clocking her first sub-three minute time over two laps with 2:58.27. The Victorian scored 83.04 on the BASELINE system ahead of teammate Eleanor Downey (T20, VIC) who also clocked a personal best with a time of 2:40.50 for a score of 79.58. In the men’s event it was Tasmanian Archie Dixon (T38, TAS) who claimed gold in 2:10.93 with a score of 89.95.
Unfriendly and uncharacteristic headwinds took records off the table for the nation’s fastest juniors, but the Under 14 duo of Edward Willis (WA) and Harper Harding (VIC) posted the best times of the day for gold – clocking 11.85 (-0.9) and 12.13 (-2.6) respectively.
Adding to the action in the field, Amalia Bond (NSW) leapt to 12.16m to take out the Under 16 Girls Triple Jump, while Thomas Hunter (QLD) soared over 1.85m in the Under 14 Boys High Jump to stamp his arrival.
Mackenzie Wilson (NSW) made her mark as a para athlete to watch, taking gold in the U17 long jump with a best leap of 3.71m (+2.3). Though wind assisted, the T44 athlete also flew to a a personal best of 3.69m (+1.7) to topple her teammate Lucy Gilmore’s (T44) 3.43m (+0.1).
Day Two of the 2025 Australian Athletics Championships continues tomorrow from 8.45am AWST, and will be streamed at 10.15am AWST on Seven’s digital channel, 7plus.
The Australian Athletics Championships is the final meet of the Chemist Warehouse Summer Series and is supported by the Western Australian Government through Tourism WA.
Full results from Day One can be found HERE.
By Lachlan Moorhouse and Sascha Ryner, Australian Athletics
Posted 4/4/2025
