ATHLETIC: A stellar night at the Nanjing Sports Centre has seen six Australian’s book a ticket to the A finals, with four of them breaking PB’s.
Alex Hulley, Ned Weatherly, Trae Williams and Sam Geddes all set new bests when they took to the track and field for the second night of athletics at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China.
Hulley was first up on the field, her first throw of 66.76m placing her fourth by the end of the first throw. She found another gear with her second throw, pulling out a 70.87m haul which put her comfortably ahead of the pack and set a new personal best in the process.
“I hope I can do that in the final, just come out and smash it again,” she said.
“I just came out as hard as I could pretty much, just so I could make the A final and then in the final I’m just going to go for my life.”
Hulley had an ideal lead up to the Games, the many hours spent at training were put to good use tonight.
“I’ve done so many PB’s leading up to it, every comp has just been great. I’ve really focused on my training this year, I started training four times per week constantly. I guess I know what works now.”
High Jumper, Nicole Robinson was unlucky not to qualify for the A final. Robinson jumped 1.74m, 5cm short of her PB, but enough to secure a place in the B final.
In one of the most highly anticipated events in athletics, Sam Geddes stepped onto the blocks in the first heat of the women’s 100m sprint. With the second fastest reaction time a galloping Geddes cruised down the track. The lead position was heavily contested by Xiaojing Liang of China, who went on to take victory in the first heat. Geddes a close second, she set a new PB of 11.69s, a result that made her excitement uncontrollable as she walked from the track.
“I wasn’t that confident coming into it, I just thought I’d aim for a PB that would be pretty good, I didn’t think it would be that good,” Geddes said.
“It just hit me on the bus that I’m at the Youth Olympics, whatever happens from here is just a huge bonus and that just calmed me down so much. I was really nervous, I was working myself up, it just relaxed me.”
“I realised I should just go out there, leave nothing behind, leave it all on the track.”
Rosie-May Davidson took to the track in the women’s 2000m steeplechase and from the gun she was caught up in the middle of the pack. It only took two laps for Kenya’s Rosefline Chepngetich to put herself well clear of the main pack, a position she kept all the way to the end.
With a time of 6:58.35mins Davidson made the top nine and qualified for the A final.
Grace Robinson competed in the women’s shot put and put in a performance just shy of a new personal best. The New South Welshman’s best throw was 15.61m, giving her the sixth spot and a shot at a medal on Sunday night. Russia’s Alena Bugakova took the top sport with a throw of 18.86m.
The crown jewel of the athletics roster, the Men’s 100m sprint, saw a strong field of sprinters stand alongside Aussie, Trae Williams. The 17-year-old didn’t seem phased by the electric crowd as he stared down the barrel of the track.
The Queenslander kicked off the starting line and looked strong the whole way down. In one heat, the teen broke a personal best, qualified for the A final and edged out favourite, Jamaica’s Raheem Chambers as the fastest qualifier leading into the medal race.
“I knew if I got my start right and executed the race well, I would be able to get through. It’s a pretty good time, I’m happy with it,” Williams said.
“I wasn’t expecting it, but I was hoping for it. Hopefully I can come away with a win in the final, that would be great!”
Hammer Thrower, Ned Weatherly was the last of the Aussies to begin competition and started out very strong. Weatherly didn’t have a medal in his sights as he came into the YOG, but after qualifying fourth and notching up a new best of 75.89m, his ambitions soon changed.
“Words can’t describe it, I’m on top of the world right now. This is honestly the best feeling I have had in my life!”
“To do it at a Youth Olympic Games, the torch right down there, four metres on my personal best, into the A final, I wanted to cry out there, but I wanted to show how manly I was,” the 16-year-old joked.
“Everyone is all on the same level, no one’s better than anyone. It doesn’t matter what distance you’re throwing, it’s just awesome competing with these guys.”
Day 6 of the Games and night 3 of the athletics will see Declan Carruthers, Emily Augustine, Jordan Csabi and Tay-Leiha Clark line up in their qualifications, hoping to secure a spot in the finals and a shot at gold.
Sam Rawlings
Olympics.com.au
@AUSOlympicTeam
