Desleigh Owusu

A wrap of this amzing Championships coming shortly 
.......
Some updates from the track - I have seen Jessica Hull near the warm-up track so looks like she'll be running the 5000m.  Unfortunately Kennedy is not running the 200m, and Liz Clay did not start in the 100m hurdles.

I raised the question below if there'd be an upset in the women's discus and Ashlyn Blackstock has indeed taken the title from Taryn Gollshewsky with a 5th round throw of 55.92m.  Tricky conditions with the wind swirling at the moment.
Which also makes it hard for the long jumpers - but Delta Amidzovski and Brooke Buschkuehl are putting on a show of quality jumping - Delta leads by 3 cm currently with 6.62m. And then wow - Buschkuehl wins on her last jump - getting out to 6.67m.

In the 200m qualifying, last years champion Jessica Milat did not unfortunately qualify for the final.  In the men's Gout Gout flew to a 20.11 (+0.4) win in his heat ... look out the 20 second barrier in the final.
.....
The last day of what's been a fascinating Australian Championships .. 17 finals to be contested:

In the field, a highlight will be the women's high jump, where two of Australia's greatest athletes going head-to-head, Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson.
In the women's long jump can Delta Amidzovski repeat her sensational jumping from the qualifying or can another great champion, six-time title holder Brooke Buschkuehl challenge her? 
Women's discus see's another multiple title holder Taryn Gollshewsky go for her 6th title - can someone cause an upset

For the men, we have the 6-metre-man Kurtis Marschall vault for his 9th title. 
The long jump has been a close contest this year, with Liam Adcock leading the way but Alex Epitropakis and Chris Mitrevski have showed winning form.  Adcock & Mitrevski have been sharing the title the last four years - according to the pattern it's Mitrevski's turn.
The javelin throwers will need to navigate some tricky winds. Cameron McEntyre almost hit 80 metres in qualifying and will be hard to beat. 
Alex Kolesnikoff since returning from the USA college system, has had some good battles with Aiden Harvey who is going for his fifth straight title - this will be a contest to watch.

On the track the we have men's steeplechase where Ben Buckingham has shown the best form this season, but you can't count out Australian record holder Ed Trippas. 
Also jumping obstacles we have heats and finals for the 110m hurdles, and the final of the 400m hurdles, where Matthew Hunt goes in as favourite, but keep your eye on Ashley Moloney.  Each race his stride pattern improves, and with a 45.82 best over the flat, if he's close towards the finish he'll be storming home.
A fascinating 800m final is in store and while Peter Bol is firm favourite, there is so much talent in this field that an upset wouldn't surprise.

Lachlan Kennedy and Gout Gout face off in the 200m.  Can Kennedy do the double? - not done since 2016 (Alex Hartmann) and if successful Kennedy will be the youngest since 1999 when a 20-year-old Matt Shirvington took it out - he'll be trackside commentating this 200m and listen for the crowd as Gout makes his charge over the final 60 metres.

Speaking of doubles, how many women have completed the classic 800/1500m at the championships?  Claudia Hollingsworth could join them but as with the men's 800m she faces a stacked field.
The heats of the women's 100m hurdles will help us see the form for the final, particularly that of Liz Clay who hasn't raced this year but blasted her best time last year to defeat Michelle Jenneke in the final.  Sarah Carli goes in as strong favourite over the long hurdles. 
Monique Hanlon hasn't lost a 200m race this year, and after her 4th in the 100m, you'd back her to keep the unbeaten record.
How the women's 5000m plays out depends to some extent as to whether Jessica Hull has recovered from the fall in the 1500m, and will toe the start line. Rose Davies' tactics could differ from her normal sit and kick if Hull's in the field.

... thoughts on yesterday to come ...

.....
In the field the women's javelin ended up being a close affair.  Mackenzie Little gets the win 58.76m, but only 48cm ahead of Lianna Davidson, with Mackenzie Mialczarek another 81cm behind.

The men's high jump saw Roman Anastasios clear 2.20m on his first attempt to take his first title, Yual Reath second and Brandon Starc in his first comp back after injury third.
......
More excitement on the track with the 100m & 800m semi-finals, 400m finals
In the women's 100m semis there'll be a few disappointed to miss the final, the Olivas (Rose Inkster, Hastings Dodds) all ran 11.73 but Inkster got the last time qualifier.  Great to see Riley Day back in finals, and Georgia Harris ran a quick semi to put her into the mix. 

In the mens 100m you'd think Lachlan Kennedy was saving something for the final tonight (but still ran 10.05), with others qualifying as expected with perhaps Alexander Colgan the surprise omission.

Qualifiers into the women's 800m final were as per the rankings.  Klara Dess's qualification means she will not run the 5000m (was entered for the treble as well).

The men's qualification did not go to plan for Peyton Craig, making a blunder slowing towards the line without checking his opposition, and getting pipped for 2nd, and not making it as a time qualifier.  Given four men already have the standard, and will race the final, Craig will have to do something super special time wise over the next 8 weeks to get discretionary selection.  Alex Hanigan benefited from Craig's slip up and runs in the final his dad won in 1994 & 1998.
......
The start of the evening session for Saturday ... and what a day it was Friday.  Still digesting all the excitement, but when you find out the winner of the women's 1500m only a couple of hours ago then that's not surprising.

We saw a 19-year-old in Cameron Myers do something no one in the World has ever done - run sub 3:30 before May
We saw a 22-year-old in Lachlan Kennedy do something no one in Australia has ever done - run sub-10 seconds in Australia
And we saw Claudia Hollingsworth - who turns 21 tomorrow! - take our her second National open title, in unfortunate circumstances, but sets up a fascinating 800m final for tomorrow assuming all the leading contenders get through tonights heats.

Myers and Hollingsworth join the list from this weekends championships who are eligible for automatic nomination for the Commonwealth Games, with Kennedy joining tonight if he wins the title.

Who else could join them tonight?  The men's 400m final has two with the CG standard, so if Reece Holder or Cooper Sherman win they get an auto-nomination.  However given the form of Luke van Ratingen and Thomas Reynolds, they could also have an eye on cracking the 44.85 standard and a surprise win.

Unfortunately Jemma Pollard has scratched from the women's 400m final, but it will be a fascinating contest between Ellie Beer and Mia Gross - is the 50.75 standard within reach? - with Alice Dixon and Alexia Loizou looking to continue their PB form and perhaps score a surprise win.

In the field, Mackenzie Little has the standard so a win tonight will put her name forward.  Lianne Davidson hasn't flown all the way from Georgia, USA for nothing so this will be a close contest, and Davidson has a PB over the 62 metre standard.

And how can we forget Nina Kennedy going in the pole vault final.  She jumped the standard off her shortened run-up at Maurie Plant - will she extend the steps and use that momentum to push into the 4.80's?

We've already seen one final today - Men's hammer throw where the favourite took out the title - he's extended his PB to 71.21m this year, so will likely press for that 73 metre standard for the cut off (31st May)

The standard is not essential for selection (just for the auto-nomination at these Championships). In their discretionary selections, selectors can also look at how athletes are ranked in the Commonwealth.  Yesterdays result in the heptathlon has set up an fascinating dilema.  Australia already had 3 athletes ranked in the top 5 (Camryn Newton-Smith, Tori West & Emelia Surch).  Mia Scerri's title win and point score will push her up close to Surch's ranking (Surch did not compete at the Championships due to injury).  Will the selectors opt for trhee heptathletes, and then which three do they chose?  

....

Friday

Well ... that didn't turn out as expected!  Jessica Hull tripped in the final straight as Claudia Hollingsworth tried to move out from the rail when the gap closed.  Protests being discussed at the moment apparently ... and Hollingsworth is disqualified so Sarah Billings is the Australian 1500m Champion finishing 0.04 ahead of Abbey Caldwell, with Georgia Griffith 3rd.

But then the men's was more to script, with Cameron Myers completely dominant and Oliver Hoare perhaps finds that run he will feels better represents his training.
....
The women's triple jump final has seen some great jumping with 3 women over 13 metres.  Desleigh Owusu was a strong favourite and and jumped twice over 13.50m, with 13.58m her best to date.  Tiana Boras got out to 13.21m on her second attempt and Chloe Grande 12.98m on her third, to be 3rd Australian.
....
Stephanie Ratcliffe went into the hammer throw as firm favourite and took control of the comp with 67.71m on her third throw to take the title, with Lara Roberts finishing with 65.51m on her last.  Ratcliffe's breaks through for her first senior title after winning three silvers.
....
Watching Lachlan Kennedy run 10.03 (+0.3) on a cold night in Melbourne you thought there was something big to come.  A warm evening in Sydney, a newly laid track, and very little breeze ... Kennedy open's his Championships sensationally with the first run under 10 seconds by an Australian in Australia ... 9.96 (+0.2) ... sensational!  
....
Women's heptathlon ends in a tense finish with Tori West opening a lead over Mia Scerri of over 4 seconds, and therefore hitting the front overall, but Scerri finishes strongly and ends up winning the contest by 13 points, with a big PB of 6175.  West gets second 6162, and Camryn Newton-Smith third 5887
....
The depth of Australian middle distance running is evident when watching the 800m preliminaries - large fields of unseeded athletes just trying to make the heats - racing in big packs, super competitive all the way to the line.  36 men have made the trip to Sydney to fight for the 12 spots, and 20 women for the 13 spots. 
.....
Being at the track you pick up the vibe ... and there was definitely a vibe around those men as they assembled for the 400m heats.  This final is going to be hot with all the big names through (save Murphy who's focused on the 200m) and good to see Zen Clark make the biggest final of his career.
Jemma Pollard leads the qualifiers in the women's heats, with Alexia Loizou and Alice Dixon continuing their good form after PBing this year.
....
Been asking coaches and athletes what they think of the new track ... mostly positive but always good to have some evidence.  In these men's 100m preliminaries there's been 17 PBs in the first 5 races - wind between +0.6 and +1.3.  In Perth last year (the 'fastest' track in Australia) there were 9 PBs in first 5 prelims (wind +0.4 to +1.8) ... not solid stats by any means but definitely looks positive.  Conditions also very good at the moment for the short sprint (with wind forecast to pick up next two days) so might be the night for Lachlan Kennedy to go for it?
For the women it was 11 in 2025 from 1st 4 prelims wind +0.7 to +1.4 and 10 in 2026 wind +0.8 to +1.6
.....
Shout out to the multievent coaches in Tasmania ... in the under 20 events, Bailey Van den Broek and Isabella Wing currently in 1st and 2nd in the heptathlon, and Xavier Davie leading the decathlon - all from Tasmania.  
......
Men's qualifying in long jump and javelin unfolding.  Long jumpers are benefiting from a tailwind so quite a few have gone beyond the auto-Q mark of 7.70m, Liam Adcock got out to 8.12m (+3.8) first jump, Alex Epitropakis 7.85 (+1.0), Chris Mitrevski 7.84 (+1.4), Harrison Williams 7.77 (+2.2) and Mason McGroder 7.70m (+1.5).  Javelin throwers are negotiating the tricky headwind so fewer with a big Q, Cameron McEntyre 79.27m, Howard McDonald 71.68m and Oscar Sullivan 70.80m.  Neil Janse sits in 5th, with 10 to qualify.
....
Qualifying for the women's long jump took a dramatic twist early on when Delta Amidzovski came out for her first jump and soared to 6.84m (+1.3) - her best by 22cm, a Commonwealth Games standard, and goes to #5 all-time Australian.  Others have gone through directly to the final:  Tomysha Clark 6.38m (+1.6), and Brooke Buschkuehl 6.37m (+1.7).  There'll be another 7 to go through to the final 10:50am Sunday (on 7plus)
.....
The javelin in the Heptathlon about to start ... West has a PB of 53.97m, but best in comp 47.36m, Scerri has 38.78m PB (35.18m in comp).  10 metres equates to about 200 points
After two rounds West has thrown 46.72m and Scerri 37.32m which puts West just 57 points behind.  If no improvement then it all comes down to the 800m, 57 points equates to about 4 seconds.  West's in comp best is 4.5 seconds faster than Scerri's.
That's how it finishes.  Scerri needs a sub 2:18 to get the 6200 standard, West needs a sub 2:14 which would be an overall PB, and Scerri needs to finish with four seconds of West to take the title. Don't miss the 800m, 7.05pm live CH7
.....

In the multievents, Lenny Robin led the decathlon after the first day with 3776 points, second Logoh Tligi & Connor Duggan 3rd Australian. They race over 110m hurdles first thing this morning

In the heptathlon the long jump has commenced, and what does Mia Scerri do first up - jump an PB of course, 6.30m (+1.0). Based on the current jumps, and using Scerri's overall PB for the javelin, the contest between her and West is now neck-and-neck with the forecast points saying only 2 points difference

.....

Arrived at the Sydney Olympic Athletics Stadium with its brand new two-toned track
A big day in store with the Heptathlon and Decathlon events concluding.  Also finals for the 1500m, women's triple jump and hammer throw.
According to those who entered the Fantasy Nationals, there was universal support for Cameron Myers to win the 1500m, Desleigh Owusu the triple jump and Stephanie Ratcliffe the hammer throw. Jessica Hull was a clear favourite in the 1500m but a few also thought Claudia Hollingsworth could cause an upset.

.......

DAY 1: Blog ....

off to catch a flight hopefully
....
Womens 1500m heats - 3 heats, first 3 qualify + 3 fastest
H1: Hollingsworth & Griffith through to final with Zoe Meluish, the fastest qualifier time to beat is 4:22.55
H2: Hull & Caldwell through, along with Thornton-Bott, with Klara Dess, who's also down to do the distance treble, currently with fastest non-Q time 4:18
H3: Billings, Ryan & Hancock-Cameron get the big Q, with Stephanie Kelly and Maddison Caulfield join Dess in the final via fastest times.

The main contenders in Women's Hammer and Men's discuss all look to have qualified to finals
Scerri jumped a PB 1.81m but has retired at 1.84m - hopefully not because of injury - she curently leads West & Newton-Smith who both jumped 1.75m.

......
Flight was cancelled so unfortunately this is coming from the airport and not live ... looking at results on the screen not quite the same experience!

Multievents:  Seems to be a couple of big names missing.  Emelia Surch not competing in the Heptathlon and Ben Guse not in Decathlon

In the 100m hurdles Kajsa Souter and Tori West runs PBs, Souter's a big 0.2 improvement, while Newton-Smith just behind West.  Mia Scerri, 4th in the last U20 Worlds, also PBed, and currently leads the high jump with an equal PB 1.78m - good start to attempt a first time 6000 point score. 

.............

There's so much to unpack for the Australian Nationals this year, that its best consumed on a event-by-event and day-by-day basis ... so we'll be providing you with a preview of each day's events, updates during and after events and then end of day analysis ... tune in!

So the Australian Championships are upon us.  We have a beautiful, two-toned, newly-layed track at Sydney’s Olympic Park to host the event.  We have a sunny forecast, hot on Thursday & Friday, slightly cooler, but still sunny for the weekend.  And we have some amazing athletes competing to do their best in what for many will be the pinnacle of their season.

For some it's about Australian titles and medals, and for a select few it's also a chance to put forward their names for selection to compete at the Commonwealth Games.  With the team restricted to 63 athletes, there's lots of discretion in the selection process, with the only guarantee being for those who have achieved the standard (list here), competed at a summer series event and won the National title.

Thursday Preview

A short overview of what to expect on Thursday.  The first day starts with qualifying rounds, preliminary rounds and the multi-events, where every event is like a final.

This will be a tough competition for the multi-eventers in the heat.  In the women’s, Olympians Tori West and Camryn Newton-Smith face last year’s World Uni Games bronze medallist Emelia Surch.  Surch has set a new heptathlon PB score every year since she started competing in the event, and is only 100 points behind Newton-Smith’s best, and 200 behind Wests.  Expect this to be a fascinating event to follow and we’ll provide score updates, as well as forecasts of possible finishing scores along the way.

Benjamin Guse competes in the men’s Decathlon, the event he won at the World Uni Games last year posting an incredible 9 PBs out of 10 events.  He appears to be a long way ahead of the competition in Sydney with Britain’s Sam Talbot and South Australian Logoh Tligi the likely ones to challenge him.

On the track we’ll see the 1500m heats, where the favourites will be keen to stay out of trouble and finish in the top six to qualify for Friday nights final.  This is Jessica Hull’s first leg of her distance treble attempt.  She has won the 1500m three times and the 5000m four times, and a win in the 800m would make her the first woman to achieve the treble, with only John Landy and Simon Doyle achieving it for the men.  Georgia Griffith and Georgie Clarke are the only women to win medals in all three events.

Preliminary rounds for the 400m involve all but the top 15 seeds as they compete for a spot in the first round heats on Friday.  The only other track event being a mixed 4x100m relay between the states.

A busy day in the field, with qualifiers in the women’s hammer and javelin, men’s discus and triple jump for both.  Will be great viewing to see the two Australian hammer reps, and 70 metres plus throwers, Stephanie Ratcliffe and Lara Roberts launch the metal ball.  Also of interest will be how Mackenzie Little goes in her first event since winning javelin bronze in last year’s World Championships, and US-based Lianna Davidson in only her second event of the season.

The men’s discus is missing Matthew Denny who’ll be launching his disc into the wind at ‘thrown town’ Ramona this weekend.  In his absence Darcy Miller, Etienne Rousseau and Ethan Ayodele will look for strong qualifying, with Ayodele taking the title last year.

Men’s triple jump has been highly competitive this year with Connor Murphy, Shemaiah James and Awan Akuen sharing the wins over the summer.  While in the women’s Desleigh Owusu had an unusual domestic loss to Isobel Louison-Roe, but in the absence of the junior athlete, looks to be a strong favourite for the final.

Keep an eye on this page for updates after each event – also the “quick updates” box on the home page for action as it happens.

For a bit of fun why not enter the Fantasy Nationals before 10am Thursday – predict the podium for 10 events of your choice and then cheer on your chosen athletes –  entry form link here.

The countdown has well and truly started as athletes tailor their preparations depending on their next target.

This weekend we have plenty of domestic highlights stemming from the two days of the Adelaide Invitational action (Friday & Saturday evenings) as well as the Australian Half-Marathon Race Walking Championships (Sunday morning).  See below for a preview of these meets.

Overseas some of the Australian contingent competing in the NCAA (almost 100 in total at last count) are focused on the NCAA National Indoors this weekend, with details for Div I and Div II finals on our website.  Another group are spending the weekend in Italy for the World University Cross Country Championships.

And things don’t slow down next week. The Australian team has been selected for the World Indoors Championships in Poland.  While relatively small, the team of eleven boasts seven international medallists and two debutants.

Then two weeks from now we get to visit / watch the super-exhilarating Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne with plenty of big names competing.

A lot of athletes will clearly be aiming to peak at the Australian Championships in Sydney, only one month from now.  With Australian titles, as well as Commonwealth Games selections on the line, there’ll be strong fields as well as the excitement of competing on the new Sydney track.

The week after that the juniors have their own Australian U20 Championships in Brisbane.  With over 100 athletes now having achieved a World U20 standard in their event, the selection trials will be high stakes, with first two on the podium getting the automatic selection in the majority of the events.

And no respite for some after this.  World Relays are in seven weeks, and the first China Diamond League (Shanghai) in nine weeks.  Then it will be interesting to see who makes the trip to Darwin for the Oceania Championships, ten weeks from now, where the points on offer can have a big impact on an athlete's world ranking.

The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow are just over four months away, with the World U20 Championships a week after.  Six months away from the World Ultimate Championships In Budapest, a week after which there is the World Road Running Championships in Copenhagen.

Despite some saying this is an “off” year for athletics, that’s an awful lot of major international championships to prepare for.  For now a preview of some of this weekends activity:

NCAA National Indoor Finals

Australian podium success at the NCAA National Indoor Championships (Div I) has come relatively recently - with David McNeill & Ryan Fosters' podiums in 2010 likely the earliest.  Success has been solely in the distance events - which makes Eddie Nketia's participation in the 60m finals this weekend of note, also given his transfer of allegiance from New Zealand to Australia in late in 2025.

The top ranked Australian going into these champs is Hayley Kitching in the 800m (ranked #2) - the last victory by an Australia at NCAA Indoors was Charlie Hunter in the men's 800m in 2021.  Tomas Palfrey has a busy weekend having qualified for the mile and 3000m, and will join his college's distance medley relay (DMR) team. Thomas Diamond also goes in the mile and the DMR, with other possible DMR team members: Imogen Gardiner, Ben Thomas, Bailey Habler & Archie Noakes.

In the Div II finals, Bec Bennett is ranked #3 in the 400m and Harrison Boyd #4 in the mile (adjusted for altitude time). Flynn Pumpa will run the mile and likey the DMR.  Good to see some field athletes qualifying with Amber Lawless in the Shot Put and Isabella Davie in the Pentathlon.

Australian Half Marathon Race Walking Championships

These Championships are the main selection trials for the World Race Walking Team Championships to be held in Brasilia, 12th April.

In the U20 events up to three athletes can be selected.  For the junior men, 10000m race walk world record holder Isaac Beacroft would be expected to take the title, with the next two spots to be fought out amongst Owen Toyne, John Ronan and Riley Coughlan who all have the time standard.

In the junior women's Zoe Woods will go in as favourite but Sienna Pitcher and Milly Sharpe will push hard, and all three have the standard.

In  the senior events up to five athletes can be selected (with three scoring in the teams event).  While Jemima Montag is absent, the women have strong representation with Rebecca Henderson, Elizabeth McMillen, Olivia Sandery and Allanah Pitcher all under the time standard.  Sandery has the edge over the longer distances, and won the Marathon Championship in November, while McMillen and Henderson have tended to battle out the shorter races.  This will be a fascinating contest.

As to will be the men's half marathon.  Rhydian Cowley comfortably won the Marathon Championship, but over the shorter distance Timothy Fraser and Declan Tingay make it more competitive. Will Thompson and Kyle Swan will be in the mix and also have the standard.

Adelaide Invitational

The third event of the Summer Series sees some fascinating head-to-heads and an important hit-out for many athletes in the lead up to the Maurie Plant Meet and then National Championships.

On the track …

We’ll start with the end of the program feature event, the men’s 200m, with an exciting match-up between Australia’s two fastest men currently over the 400m: Reece Holder (44.53) and Aidan Murphy (44.81).  Murphy has a faster PB than Holder over 200m (20.41 to 20.48), although to be fair Holder has likely never raced a ‘feature’ 200m event where there’s added incentive to perform.  They’ll be joined by World Championship 400m finalist, Jacory Patterson (USA), as well as recent National 200m record-breaker, Tommy Te Puni (NZL).

In the 100m races, a number of athletes are backing up after the relay teams competed on Friday.  Jacob Despard, Christopher Ius and Josh Azzopardi from the winning Green team (in 38.34) face off against Connor Bond & Joseph Ayoade from the Gold team which unfortunately was a dnf.

In the women’s 100m, Ebony Lane, Olivia Rose Inkster & Chloe Mannix-Power from the winning Green team (43.37) encounter the fastest woman in Australia this year, Zara Hagan (11.16), along with Olivia Hastings and Georgia Harris from the Gold team (44.06)

Exciting to see Jemma Pollard and Ellie Beer have their second head-to-head this year over 400m, with the last one in Perth resulting in Pollard being pushed to a new PB in order to take the win.

In the men’s 400m, Luke van Ratingen will take the start-line for the first time this season, bolstering the talent pool before the World Relay Championships. He has some stiff international competition from Kyle Gale (BAH) and National record-holder Lex Revell-Lewis (NZL).

Also taking the start-line for the first time this season is sub-2 minutes athlete, Carley Thomas in the women’s 800m, where she faces two athletes who have seen many start-lines this season in Abbey Caldwell and Jaylah Hancock-Cameron. Also watch the match-up in this race between the juniors, with Ivy Boothroyd who had a breakthrough PB in Hobart and will race again against her main junior challenger in Emma Fryga.

In the men’s 800m, Australian 2024 Champion Luke Boyes takes on the leading junior talent Daniel Williams, who has his eyes set on the World U20 Championships.  Williams also has his eyes on a stint in the NCAA with Penn State University, to be coached by former Australian record-holder in the middle-distance events, Ryan Foster.

Speaking of the NCAA, there’s an alumni match-up in the men’s 1500m, between Alexander Stitt, Jackson Sharp, Jesse Hunt and Toby Gillen, the lead contenders. Again there’s the race within the race with a host of quick juniors competing. Charles Barrett has recently been successful in staying ahead of Alexander Cameron-Smith and Lucas Chis, but will this continue?

Another NCAA alumni, Klara Dess, starts favourite in the women’s 1500m and faces a number of junior women including New Zealand’s Scarlett Robb, and Australian juniors Milla Roberts and Sarah Baker, with local Hannah Tourneur in the mix. Another local to watch is 15-year-old Amelia Sheridan, too young to qualify for this year’s World U20 Championships, but running under the standards anyway.

Last night saw the women’s 3000m Steeplechase with a win to Cara Feain-Ryan (9:34.89) and Tessa Ebert grab a PB and another World U20 qualifier (10:05.26).  In the men's race today a strong Japanese contingent are likely to maintain a fast pace which Ed Trippas and Ben Buckingham will look to benefit from.

Ashley Moloney takes on his second 400m hurdles event, after the Hobart debut where he showed how difficult it is to get the pacing right between hurdles.  Despite this he still ran a very respectabke 52.70, and sub-50 second man Matthew Hunt will know if Moloney’s close after the last hurdle he’ll be storming home fast.

To the field …

Those in Adelaide get to the meet early, because you’ll see that 70 metre mark in the discus get well and truly peppered.  Matthew Denny of course will be partly responsible but he’s joined by two international throwers who can get the disc out there, regular visitor to Adelaide, Lawrence Okoye (GBR) and Claudio Romero (CHI).  Darcy Miller and Etienne Rousseau will look to use this strong competition to crack the 60 metre mark.

Taryn Gollshewsky also has international company, Nanaka Kori (JPN) and Nora Monie (CMR), who have both thrown over 60 metres and will provide strong competition for Gollshewsky.  There will be a close competition between the juniors, with Chelsy Wayne, Jessica Johnston and Lauren Kelly all boasting PBs around the 52 metres mark.

A classic match-up in the women's long jump with Australian record-holder Brooke Buschkuehl on the come-back trail, up against the World U20 Champion Delta Amidzovski.  In Melbourne last month, Amidzovski took an early lead but Buschkuehl was gaining in her last few jumps – keep an eye on this contest as it unfolds.

In men's pole vault, while they have the same PB (5.53m), the last time Aiden Princena-White beat Dalton di Medio was in Adelaide two years ago. Could history repeat?

Shemaiah James has made it his quest this year to break his long-standing triple jump PB of 16.42m – will today be the day?  He’ll have Connor Murphy to provide strong competition, along with fellow 16 metre jumpers, Liam Glew and Awan Akuen.  In the women’s triple jump on Friday, Desleigh Owusu recorded another solid win (13.43m +1.1). 

Other meetings

That's a solid offering of athletics for this weekend.  We also have the FISU World Cross Country with a 16-member team competing (will link the livestream if we find one).  There's also the Queensland State Championships with some interest in the sprint events (results can be found here)

Enjoy!

Perth is well known for its hard, bouncy surfaces - think the old WACA cricket pitch. But there's nothing better than a soft layer under a hard top - not talking the pavlova in Freo - but the Mondo surface at Perth’s Athletics Stadium.

The forecast for the Perth Track Classic looks just about right - high 20's - to cook the vulcanised rubber & polymer compounds perfectly for the sprinters.  Get ready for some explosive action, including in the jumps, and provided the Fremantle Doctor behaves itself, we should be in for a night of wind-legal excitement.

What better way to start the evening than with Australia’s most recent Olympic athletics Champion returning to the runway in the POLE VAULT. Nina Kennedy will enjoy the moment in front of her home crowd, and to say she is an inspiration for many athletes is an understatement.  It’s perhaps no coincidence that last year Australia had the most number of women over 4.00 metres in the pole vault ever (11), with four of them juniors.

Another great champion for Australian athletics, Brooke Buschkuehl has also recently returned to the runway.  But in Perth it’s a slightly different version – this time facing the TRIPLE JUMP take-off board.  World University Games bronze medallist Desleigh Owusu will likely appreciate the domestic competition on her first hop-step-jump for the season, and will also be joined by Izobelle Louison-Roe whose season’s started in leaps and bounds with World Junior qualifiers in both triple and high jumps. Last time she jumped, Karla Boras was just 13cm from that qualifier and will be hopping (sorry!) to break that 13 metre mark.

And continuing the theme of champions, Michelle Jenneke flies to Perth and will look to continue her form after the recent World Indoors qualifier over the 60m HURDLES.  While the Commonwealth standard of 12.73 looks tough this early in the season, Jenneke has started with her first sub-13 in January ever.  Speaking of sub-13, Danielle Shaw and Emily Britton after good starts to 2026, would also love to see a “12” at the front of their time, and advance their standing in the Commonwealth rankings – an important factor the selectors will be considering.

It’s now 5.15pm AWST, hopefully dropping to under 30 degrees, and the wind less than 7.2 km/h (2.0 m/s). Heats of the WOMEN’S 100m.

Zoe Hobbs isn’t travelling all the way to Perth for the pavlova.  Her first visit to Perth is purely to run fast.  The Oceania record holder has gone sub-11 already this year (albeit windy) – don’t miss this heat run because Hobbs will likely want to make the most of every chance she has on this track.  Bree Rizzo, Ebony Lane and recent World Indoors qualified Olivia Dodds, will all have the same mindset.

Also keep an eye on the incredible junior talent in these heats.  It won’t be hard to spot Thewbelle Philp – she’ll be the one rocketing out of the blocks – and look out for Kate Philpott & local Jessica Hanney – both have World Junior qualifiers (11.77).  Another below the qualifying time is local Charlotte Ehioghae, but at just 14-years-old she has a couple of years to wait to be eligible.

The MEN’S 100m gives us the chance to see Rohan Browning, Joshua Azzopardi and Joseph Ayoade first runs for the season.  Browning will have fond memories of Perth given he won the National title there last year, and will be keen to make the most of the track, as to Jacob Despard, Connor Bond and Christopher Ius. 

Keep an eye out for Alexander Colgan who ran a (very) windy 10.01 and Benjamin Kelly, still just 19 years, who emerged from Canberra with a new PB of 10.23 (+1.2), improvement of 0.42 from the start of the year.  Also local speedstar Josiah John with the 10.50 World Junior qualifier in sight, a time he’s been under every year for the past three years.

At the same time the men are finishing their 100m heats, the pole vaulters will start launching themselves into the Perth-blue sky.  Kurtis Marschall will have noticed the strange discrepancy in men’s POLE VAULT standards between World Indoors (5.90m) & Commonwealth Games (5.65m), while for other field events the standards are similar.  Other vaulters like Dalton Di Medio (PB 5.51m) and Aidan Princena-White (PB 5.53m) may well fancy their chances against that Commonwealth standard.

The LONG JUMPERS will also be warming up.  Since 2006, at least two Australians have jumped over eight metres every year (not incl. 2020).  Eleven of those years it’s been three. Who will be the first this year?  Jalen Rucker looks to be back to form with a recent 7.94m, and Liam Fairweather will be looking to replicate that eight metre jump he achieved in Perth last year.

And just to backtrack – where else have we see the men competing up to this stage?

We’ve had the men tackle the 5000m in the heat at 4.30pm.  A tough ask but Jonathan Harris and Matthew Ramsden would have taken up the challenge and probably led the way.

The 110m HURDLES men including Timothy Forster and William Wong would have been hoping to break 14 seconds and had Japanese athlete Ryo Koike (PB 13.57) to chase.

Yual Reath would have flown in the HIGH JUMP, keen to clear that 2.28m he just missed in Melbourne and maybe more.

Things are hopefully cooling by 6pm, but on the track it’s just hotting up.  Expect a roar from the crowd when the MEN’S 800m field is introduced and hometown hero, Peter Bol steps forward.  The young Bol started his trade in Perth with bold front running, and while he’ll likely be more measured given his first race of the season, there’s no relaxing in this field.

Being the King means there’s others wanting your crown. The battles Bol has had domestically with Luke Boyes and Daniel Williams are becoming legendary, with less than a second separating them on most occasions.

Perth will add another chapter to that story, but Bol also faces challenges from his own camp with the Justin Rinaldi trained athletes a big presence in this field.  Newly-minted 1:46 man Bob Abdelrahim will look to back up that stunning start to the season.  Four internationals have decided to kick-off their seasons in Australia at the Rinaldi ‘stables’, with 1:44 runner Tiarnan Crorken (GBR) the quickest on paper and fresh off his 4-flat mile run in Melbourne.

Next on the track we have the 400m FINALS.  Such a thrill to see Australian 4x400m relay teams once again prominent on the international stage and the talent has travelled to Perth to test out the Mondo.

In the women’s race, while Ellie Beer is the stand-out, only a second separates most of the rest of the field.  Jemma Pollard has put down a marker with her 52.18 PB for others to test themselves against in what for most is their first race of the season including local Amelia Rowe, who returns home from a one-month training camp in South Africa.

Less than a second also covers a good chunk of the men’s field.  Cooper Sherman and Thomas Reynolds pushed each other to PBs last month in Canberra – wouldn’t it be great if they can push again and both go under 45 seconds.  Junior Seth Kennedy will be keen to improve his World U20 qualifying mark in this strong field.

Earlier in the program we also would have seen the one lappers who decide to make things more difficult by jumping hurdles as well. Sarah Carli and Alanah Yukich are the best exponents of the 400m HURDLES craft in Australia amongst the women, and the Olympians will battle it out.  A couple of juniors, Maiya Hewitt and Mia Shelley, will have their own head-to-head, with Shelley looking to push under 60 seconds for the first time.

Similarly in the DISCUS earlier, Olympian Taryn Gollshewsky will lead the way for the World U20 qualified juniors, Chelsey Wayne and Lauren Kelly.

And the men’s JAVELIN would have likely seen the thrill of 80 metres throws from Rumesh Pathirage (SRI) and maybe Felise Vaha’I Sosaia (FRA) with Neil Janse and Hamish Peacock the leading Australians, and recently qualified World U20 Decathlete, local Wyatt Hill competing.

While many of her middle-distance Australian team-mates have been jetting about, Abbey Caldwell has been building a solid base at home. Already with the WOMEN’S 1500m World Indoors standard, her next target is 4:01.50 for the Commonwealth standard, and Caldwell will be pleased to see good friend to Australian shores, Nozomi Tanaka in the field, as she is never one to let the pace slow. Jaylah Hancock-Cameron has really powered over the last 300m of her recent 800m races and looks in PB form for this event. There’s also an interesting trans-Tasman contest between two leading juniors, Emma Fryga from Brisbane and Scarlett Robb from Auckland.

The 200m events complete the evening.  Christoper Ius will be expected to lead out the men, but two fast Japanese competitors as well as Jake Hayter and local Christopher Geordas – both of whom have run PBs this year – will be chasing him down.

In the women’s race Ella Connolly always finds good form in the domestic season, and her recent 400m time suggests she could push for sub-23 seconds. Watch for another young local talent, 15-year-old Emilia Reed, who stunned last year at Nationals on this track breaking the National under 16 100m record.

Here's to a fast and furious Perth Track Classic, and maybe some pavlova after to celebrate!