AOC: It was wins all around for Australian sport over the weekend, with swimming, hockey, cycling, basketball, football and rugby each kicking goals in their respective fields.
On Saturday, Cate Campbell, Emma McKeon and Jack McLouglin all claimed top gongs at Swimming Australia’s annual awards in Melbourne.
Triple Olympian, Campbell, claimed the Olympic Program Swimmer of the Year, while McKeon and McLouglin tied for the coveted Hancock Prospecting Swimmers Swimmer, the second time taking out the award for McKeon.
The Patron Awards went to Olympic gold medallist Kyle Chalmers and Ariarne Titmus, while the Paralympic Swimmer of the Year went to Comm Games gold medallist, Matthew Levy.
Open Water Swimmer of the Year went to Karena Lee and para swimmer Ben Popham took out the AIS Discovery of the Year.
Meanwhile, at the Hancock Prospecting Australian Short Course Championships, the final night of competition wrapped up with a bang. Three-time Olympian Emily Seebohm, claimed five gold medals over the course of the event, taking her tally to 31 Australian short-course titles.
The short course championships served as the qualifier for the 2018 World Short Course Championships in Hangzhou, China in December, with Australia's Team announced HERE.
In more awards news, retired Kookaburras skipper, Mark Knowles and Hockeyroos midfielder Jane Claxton both took out the prestigious Player of the Year awards at Hockey Australia’s gala event on the Gold Coast.
Highest goal scorer went to Kookaburra Jeremy Hayward and Hockeyroo Kathryn Slattery.
Rugby Australia also held their awards, with Wallabies flanker David Pocock winning his second John Eales medal.
Evania Pelite claimed the women’s Seven Player of the Year while rookie Ben O’Donnell took home the medal for the men.
In cycling, the Aussie Track Team topped the round one tally at the UCI Track World Cup in France last weekend, with eight medals. This weekend, they have followed up with another four medals in the second-round event in Canada.
A new Australian record of 32.456 was also set by team sprinters Stephanie Morton and Kaarle McCulloch during round two.
Competition will wrap up today before round three kicks off in Berlin from November 30.
Australia’s U18 women’s basketball team also claimed bragging rights of their own, with the Australian Gems kicking off their opening game of the FIBA U18 Asian Championships with a dominant win, 96-28 over Indonesia.
They now face Chinese Taipei on 29 October at 4.30 pm AEDT.
In football, the Young Matildas won their first three games of the AFC U19 Women’s Championship Qualifiers, with an incredible 23 goals scored and none conceded, getting them that much closer to qualifying for the AFC U19 Championships.
During their opening match, the young side dominated against Mongolia, with an 18-0 finish, before defeating Lebanon 2-0 and wrapping up their campaign against Hong Kong, 3-0.
Liana Buratti
olympics.com.au
