It's day three of athletics at the Olympic Stadium and Australia has the chance to create history on the track and in the field. There will be 12 Australians in action.
Brandon Starc starts in the men’s high jump final looking to emulate the performances of Tim Forsyth, while Rohan Browning could become the first man since John Treloar in 1952 to make a final in the men’s 100m.
In the morning session, three-time Olympian Genevieve Gregson starts in the women’s 3000m steeplechase alongside debutants Amy Cashin and Georgia Winkcup.
MORNING SESSION: 9.40am – 11:10am
Our top three female steeplechasers will start the day for Australia on the track. Australian record holder Genevieve Gregson will don the Olympic uniform for the third time, and if her recent results are to go by, a spot in the final will be on the cards where she will look to improve on her ninth place finish from Rio. Most recently, she clocked 9:17.81, the second fastest time in Australian history behind her own record. Joining her will be two Olympic debutants in Amy Cashin, who ran the automatic qualifier in the US, and Sydney’s Georgia Winkcup.
The Steeplechase heats start at 10:40am (AEST) with the first 3 in each heat (Q) and the next 6 fastest (q) advance to the Final.
A second Australian record holder will contest her second Olympic Games, with our sole female long jumper Brooke Stratton aiming to qualify herself for the Olympic final. Stratton struggled with injuries throughout the season but jumped 6.84m to qualify for the Games at the Australian Track and Field Championship. Three months later, she is looking to better Bronwyn Thompson’s fourth place finish in 2004 to become Australia’s most successful woman in the event at an Olympic Games. Stratton was seventh in Rio. Stratton will jump at 10:50am (AEST) with the automatic qualifying performance being 6.75m.
Steve Solomon and Alex Beck will race the men’s 400m heats. Solomon returns to Olympic competition after narrowly missing out on the Rio 2016 Games by 0.01 seconds and will be looking to emulate his London 2012 form where he became the first person since Darren Clark to make the final at the Olympic Games. Beck makes his Olympic, and major championship, debut in Tokyo. He has a personal and season best of 45.72. Beck races in heat 1 at 11:45am AEST.
EVENING SESSION: 8:00pm – 11:00pm
The action returns to the Olympic Stadium on Sunday night, with Brandon Starc to lead the green and gold charge in the men’s high jump.
Starc starts in the final at Tokyo 2020 after narrowly missing the duel for medals at Rio 2016, where he placed 15th. He has since won gold at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games and improved his personal best to a mark equal to the national record of Tim Forsyth – 2.36m.
In the qualification round, Starc cleared 2.28m to ensure his progression. At the 2019 World Championships he jumped 2.30m to finish sixth. The men’s final competition starts at 20:10pm AEST.
On the track, Liz Clay will start in the semi-final of the women’s 100m hurdles, while Peter Bol, Jeff Riseley and Charlie Hunter become the first ever trio of Australians to progress to the semi-final of the men’s 800m at the same Olympic Games.
Clay is looking to emulate the performances of Olympic record holder, Sally Pearson, by making the final of the sprint hurdles at her maiden Olympic Games. Clay will run at 8:50pm AEST.
Bol clocked a national record 1:44.13 to finish automatically progress to the next round on day two of athletics competition, with four-time Olympian Riseley and debutant Hunter both progressing among the six non-automatic qualifiers. Semi-finals start at 9:25pm.
Rohan Browning rounds out the schedule when he bursts from the blocks in the semi-final of the blue-riband men’s 100m. Browning’s impressive heat win in a personal best of 10.01 seconds makes him the fastest Australian in an Olympic Games ever. A berth in the final would make him the first to do so since John Treloar placed 6th in 1952. The semi-finals start at 8:15pm and the final at 10:50pm AEST.
