ATHLETICS: Australian athlete Dani Samuels has continued to stake her claim as a potential medallist at the upcoming IAAF World Championships by recording her second consecutive second-place finish in the women’s discus throw in the fifth round of the prestigious IAAF Diamond League in Birmingham (GBR).
Earlier this week on Friday morning Australian time Samuels threw the discus 65.47m to finish second behind reigning Olympic gold medallist Sandra Perkovic of Croatia (67.92m) in Round Four of the IAAF Diamond League in Rome (ITA), and the top two placings were identical in Birmingham this evening.
Perkovic has been dominant in the event in recent times and tonight effectively ended the competition in the opening round in the Sainsbury’s Birmingham Grand Prix when she threw a meet record of 69.23m. Samuels, a former World Champion herself, pushed the Croatian however by opening the competition with an excellent throw of 64.89m.
Following her first round effort, Samuels had throws of 63.86m and 62.54m on either side of a pair of fouls before recording a second 64-metre throw in the final flight of 64.00m even, but the Australian was unable to better Perkovic’s Round One effort and finished second.
The result means Samuels now sits clearly second on the overall Diamond League points rankings with five points, behind Perkovic on 12.
Meanwhile Brett Robinson (VIC) finished in fifth place in the Men’s 5000m in Birmingham. In the process Robinson clocked a season’s best time of 13:21.23 to better the World Championship qualifying standard of 13:23.00 and press his claim for a spot on the Australian Flame team for Beijing (CHN) in August. Collis Birmingham (VIC) was also running in the same men’s 5000m race and finished seventh in a time of 13:36.17.
After setting two new personal bests in the space of three weeks in the lead-up to Birmingham, Madeline Heiner (NSW) couldn’t quite make it a trifecta in the Women’s 3000m Steeplechase. She took the early lead to push the pace before fading to finish in eighth place overall in the time of 9:41.28. Heiner’s time still bettered the qualifying mark for the World Championships, underlining just why she has already earned selection for the Australian Flame team to Beijing.
Two other Australians took to the field of play in Birmingham. Competing in the men’s 110m hurdles Sam Baines (VIC) clocked 13.69 (wind: +1.5) to finish in seventh place. Hamish Peacock (TAS) had a strong first round throw of 80.66m in the Men’s Javelin competition but was unable to improve on it in the following rounds and finished in eighth position overall in his second Diamond League outing of the season.
Click here for full results from the Birmingham IAAF Diamond League meet.
In other news, plenty of Australians were also performing well in other places around the world this weekend.
Dane Bird-Smith (QLD) finished fifth in the men’s 20km event at the IAAF Race Walking Challenge in La Coruna (ESP) in a new personal best time of 1:20:05. Rhydian Cowley (VIC) also competed in the event and finished in 26th place to set his own new PB of 1:23:27. Click here to see full event results from La Coruna.
In Boston (USA) Australian para-athlete Deon Kenzie (TAS) has set a new world record of 4:05.39 for his T37 cerebral palsy classification in the 1500m. Running in the New Balance Twilight Series, Kenzie’s performance bettered his previous personal best of 4:06.60. Also running in Boston, fellow para-athlete Michael Roeger (SA) clocked 3:52.49 to finish third in the men’s elite 1500m race. Click here to see full results from Boston.
In Nashville (USA) Brittany McGowan (QLD) finished third in the invitational women’s 800m race at the Music City Distance Carnival in a time of 2:02.41. In the men’s invitational 800m Hugh Nicklason (Tas) set a new personal best time of 1:49.46 to finish in second place. Philo Saunders (ACT) was third in the men’s invitational mile race in a time of 4:01.81. Click here for full results from Nashville.
ATHLETICS AUSTRALIA
