ATHLETICS: Jeff Riseley (Vic) has declared that he should not be discounted when David Rudisha (KEN) comes to town for the Australian Athletics Tour Finals next month after he clocked 1:46.52 to take out the men’s 800m from national record holder Alex Rowe (Vic, second, 1:47.36) at the Adelaide Track Classic.
Delivering his second consecutive win on the nationwide circuit after he reigned supreme in the men’s 1500m at the Hunter Track Classic last month, the 28-year-old Commonwealth Games finalist executed a great final lap after choosing to sit back from the pacemaker at the bell and make his run for the front with little more than the home straight to go.
“It’s been a bit of a Rudisha and Rowe show, and I didn’t like the fact that I was left out of that a bit too much. I wanted to come out here tonight and prove that you can’t discount me across 800m as well as the 1500m. That’s my plan for the rest of year, to consolidate in both events and work off the progress that I made in Glasgow,” Riseley said.
“Sydney and Melbourne are really important for me. I’m in good shape, training has been going really well and we have some good guys coming out to run so it will give me chance to test myself on home soil and I’m relishing that opportunity. Then it will be 22 weeks to World Championships and I need to find another level for that event.”
“I haven’t really done the anaerobic kind of work that Rowe has a bit more, and I knew that if I went out to fast that I probably wouldn’t have had it in the last 200m and it worked out pretty well to come through the first lap in 53 seconds and be in front of him. I knew that if I was in front of him I was a chance and I felt like I had some legs left and went with about 120 metres to go.”
Jared West (NSW) rounded out the top-three in 1:47.78, while in the women’s 1500m Melissa Duncan (Vic) ran a very gutsy race to stick with the initial pace and close out the last two laps on her own at the front. She won by almost 30 metres in 4:10.56.
Riseley was but one of many highlights here at Round 5 of the Australian Athletics Tour, with Dani Samuels (NSW) and Brooke Stratton (Vic) equally impressive thanks to their IAAF World Championships qualifying performances for the women’s discus throw and the women’s long jump respectively.
Samuels’ best throw of 65.20m was a meet record and came in round three, but for the Commonwealth champion the highlight of her performance was her ability to deliver consistency across her series. Opening her account with a nervous foul, she recovered with a mark of 63.67m before her winning mark, a 62.61m throw, 64.61m and 64.56m to close.
“I was hoping for at least 63 metres, so to have a couple of throws out past 64 metres and then the winning throw of 65.20 makes me very happy. The consistency was there, so I was trying to play with the winds a little bit because it was shifting from a headwind to a cross wind and that was good practice for that type of throwing,” Samuels said.
“It’s on to the Queensland Track Classic now, then Sydney for the Tour Final and Nationals too. If the national record happens it happens. It’s within a metre of my PB and this is my first competition this season. If I can throw that distance it will put me in the mix for a medal and that’s the aim.”
Improving on her personal best in the process, Stratton’s qualifier of 6.73m (w: 0.0) moves her to fifth on the Australian All-Time List, and after being forced out of the Commonwealth Games due to injury she is thrilled to be back on the runway and improving.
The 21-year-old Stratton opened her account with a 6.40m effort before a foul and her winning leap in round three. She continued with 6.65m, 6.54m and a foul in the final round. Chelsea Jaensch (Qld) placed second (6.49m) and IAAF World Junior Championships representative Naa Anang (Qld) third (6.33m).
“I am so excited, especially because I am coming back from an injury. I had a really rough winter last year rehabbing a back concern so to come away with a qualifier here is amazing, I can’t believe it. It is still so early in the season and there’ll be more to come hopefully,” Stratton said.
“Every competition now I hop on the runway and do not take it for granted. I go out there and give it all that I have. Missing the Commonwealth Games has made me come back so hungry this season and I want to jump far. I am just so happy. Before this season I said I wanted to jump 6.80m so I am getting there, and now anything more than 6.74m is on the way to that.”
The Adelaide Track Classic also marked the return of the Australian Relay Championships, with member associations from across the nation bringing together their best sprinters for men’s and women’s 4x100m and 4x400m relays.
And it was a night to remember for the teams from Athletics Victoria, with three of the four gold medals on offer heading their way. First to taste victory was the women’s 4x100m relay squad, with Australian Flame Monica Brennan (Vic) bringing the team home to cross the line first in 45.36 before both 4x400m relay squads too victory in 3:10.17 (men) and 3:39.69 (women).
In the men’s 4x100m relay, London Olympian Isaac Ntiamoah (NSW) and rising star Rohan Browning (NSW) led Athletics New South Wales to the win in a time of 40.17 from Athletics Queensland (40.27, second) and Victoria (41.57, third).
Ntiamoah went on to share the win in the men’s 100m with Tom Gamble (Qld), with the photo finish judges unable to split the pair. Clocking 10.44 (w: +0.6) on the back-straight after the race direction was switched to allow for favourable winds, they shared the podium with Browning (10.48) in third.
In other results from the Adelaide Track Classic:
- Zoe Buckman (Vic) set a new personal best of 8:56.29 to win the women’s 3000m from Eloise Wellings (NSW, second, 9:04.22) and Jess Trengove (SA, third, 9:22.45). The performance follows her win at the Chiba Cross-Country Championships in Chiba (JPN) late last month.
- With a best mark of 63.19m, Li Lingwei (CHN) placed first in the women’s javelin throw. London Olympic finalist Kathryn Mitchell (Vic, 59.72m) was second and Glasgow 2014 bronze medallist Kelsey-Lee Roberts (ACT, 59.71m) third. The duo were split by just one centimetre.
- Sailing over 4.45m, the Commonwealth champion and national record holder Alana Boyd (Qld) won the women’s pole vault from Liz Parnov (WA, second, 4.35m). Nina Kennedy (WA), who soared to a new world junior outdoor best at the Jandakot City Track Classic last weekend, did not record a height.
- Choosing to share the victory, Blake Lucas (Vic) and Angus Armstrong (NSW) cleared 5.25m to win the men’s pole vault from Flavien Basson (Vic, second, 5.25m), who was declared second on countback.
- Hitting a new personal best of 63.93m, the Commonwealth Games finalist Lara Neilsen (Qld) was victorious in the women’s hammer throw from Youth Olympic Games silver medallist Alex Hulley (NSW, second, 61.38m). It was her final throw that secured the win after launching her up-and-down series with three fouls.
- Leaping a meet record of 14.64m (w: +1.5) on his third attempt, Benjamin Cox (Vic) was the victor in the men’s triple jump, as local favourite Jack Stolarski (SA) jumped 14.49m (w: +2.1) to finish second.
The Australian Athletics Tour now moves to Brisbane (Qld) on 7 March for the Queensland Track Classic. The event will feature alongside Round 1 of the IPC Grand Prix series, which is a world-class athletics competition for para-athletes from around the world.
