ATHLETICS: Night three of the Athletics saw six Aussies on show and they did not disappoint as they secured four more A finals in what has already been an amazing athletics campaign for the Australian Youth Olympic Team.
Tay Clark turned a good night to a great one when she notched up the first PB of the night for the Aussies.
A gifted triple jumper, Clark fouled the first jump only to answer back by smashing her personal best on the second, with a jump of 13.00m, over 40cm longer than her previous best.
“I didn’t know exactly how big the PB was but I knew it was big, so that was very exciting!” Clark said
“I’ve been wanting that jump for a long time, I’ve been fouling a fair few jumps, more than I can count.”
Emily Augustine took the track in heat 2 of the women’s 1500m. Having celebrated her birthday the day before, the newly 17-year-old was hoping some birthday luck would get her over the line.
“Yesterday was a great day, everyone in the village was wishing me a happy birthday, so it was really nice, good team spirit,” Augustine said.
She left the line strongly and set herself in the middle of the pack. See sat in fourth place for much of the race but was overtaken by Venantie Mukandayisenga of Rwanda as they rounded the final bend. Though, Augustine finished fifth, it gave her a ticket to the A final on Monday morning.
“It was amazing, I was trying not to think about it too much so it didn’t make me too nervous. It really helps to keep you going when you’re finding it pretty tough,” she said.
“Such a good atmosphere, it really helped me bring it home.”
After Trae Williams’ astonishing run last night, Jordan Csabi resumed the sprints for the Australian athletics team in the men’s 200m. The Queenslander was second quickest in his heat, and was calm and collected coming into the race.
“I wasn’t nervous or anything, I just gave it my best shot. At the end of the day, it is what it is, so I’m happy with it,” Csabi said.
On his goals...”Definitely medal, everyone wants a medal. I would have liked to get my PB but unfortunately it didn’t happen. I’m happy just to be here, so what happens, happens.”
Declan Carruthers had a great night at the Olympic Sports Centre in the men’s pole vault, the South Australian looked promising in the warm-up and converted that into a string of quality jumps in the qualifier.
He came extremely close to his PB of 4.85m, his best jump of the night, 4.80m, means he will contest the B final.
To add to an already spectacular night in the athletics, Ryan Patterson took to the track in the men’s 800m. Patterson began the race in an unaggressive manner, allowing a few racers to come past, it wasn’t until the last 200m that the Victorian lengthened his stride and slotted in behind first placed Geofrey Balimumiti of Uganda.
Patterson also set a new personal best of 1:50.68 as he crossed the finish line in second place, making him fourth fastest going into the A final on Monday night.
“It’s great, I’ve been training really hard so it’s great to get the result in the heat, so hopefully I can get the result in the final,” the 16-year-old said.
Matthew Rees was the final Aussie athlete to exit the stadium after competing in the men’s javelin. Rees throw well, missing out on his PB of 70.85 with his best throw of 70.80m. Try as they did, there was no stopping Romania’s Alexandru Mihaita Novac, who threw a new PB of 77.61, handing him the top spot.
The first day of finals at the Athletics stadium commences tomorrow, with Jess Thorton - 400m, Shemaih James - High Jump, Sam Geddes - 100m and Trae Williams - 100m, all striving for a medal in the A Finals tomorrow night.
Sam Rawlings
Olympics.com.au
@AUSOlympicTeam