Beach Volleyball – Olympians and Tokyo hopefuls crowned National Champions at Manly Beach

Rio 2016 Olympians Mariafe Artacho Del Solar and Taliqua Clancy and 2018 Commonwealth Games champions Damien Schumann and Chris McHugh have taken out the women’s and men’s crowns at the 2021 Australian Beach Volleyball Championships at Manly Beach. 

Del Solar and Clancy had to mount a spectacular comeback to beat fellow Olympians and defending Australian Champions Nikki Laird and Becchara Palmer, coming back from a set down to win 2-1 (17-21, 21-16, 15-9). 

Also going to a 3-set decider, Schumann and McHugh prevailed 21-15, 17-21, 15-9 over Paul Burnett and Thomas Hodges to secure the national title and their third Australian Beach Volleyball Tour gold medal in a row.

Find out more HERE

Tennis – Stosur and Ebden Aus Open runners up in mixed doubles final

Wildcards Sam Stosur and Matt Ebden’s dream run through the Australian Open finished in the final at Rod Laver Arena, with the Australians going down 6-1 6-4 to American Rajeev Ram and Czech Barbora Krejickova.

The result was a fantastic return after long layoffs for both Stosur and Ebden.

“We couldn’t quite get it done tonight, but I had so much fun this week,” four-time Olympian Stosur said. “Not too shabby for a couple of wild cards!”

Winter Sport – Walker claims bronze in season-ending monobob

‘Bobsled’ Bree Walker finished the Monobob World Series with a bronze medal in Konigsee, earning the 28-year-old second place in the final overall standings for the 2020-21 World Series.

Walker bounced back from the disappointment of a crash in last week’s World Championships to again find the podium on the World Series level, capping off an incredible season.

Australian Ski Cross athlete Doug Crawford also recorded his best result on the international stage, earning 13th in the World Cup event in Austria.

Athletics – Pole Vaulters highlight strong results in State Championships

With both the Victorian and West Australian state championships held over the weekend, pole vaulters Kurtis Marschall and Nina Kennedy provided the highlight performances.

Both Kennedy and Marschall have already cleared Olympic qualifying standard heights, and continued their impressive form jumping 4.70m and 5.80m respectively.

Find out more HERE

Basketball – Baby Boomers defeat Tall Blacks in Cairns

The Boomers scored a FIBA 2021 Asia Cup Qualifier victory 81-52 against the New Zealand Tall Blacks in Cairns on Saturday night, with the young team showing the future of basketball in Australia is very bright.

With the Boomers team largely made up of those on scholarship at Basketball Australia’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) and an average age of just 19, the young guns won by 29 points in front of a supportive Cairns crowd.

Find out more HERE

Swimming – Tokyo Bound Kareena Lee wins Noosa 5km

Kareena Lee, selected to make her Olympic debut in Tokyo in the 10km open water swim, won the 5km race at the World Series Swims event at Noosa.

Finishing in 1.00.31, Lee won in commanding fashion, more than 30 seconds clear of her nearest rival.

Swimming – Rio Olympian Irvine hangs up goggles

Rio Olympic butterflier Grant Irvine announced his retirement from competitive swimming over the weekend.

Irvine’s career highlights include Commonwealth Games gold, World Championships silver and an Olympic debut in Rio.

Water Polo – Olympic opponents settled as Tokyo 2020 draw complete

The Australian Stingers and Sharks have reached a milestone in their journey to Tokyo, with the Olympic pools drawn over the weekend.

The Aussie World Championship bronze medallist, Stingers, have been drawn with South Africa, Netherlands, Spain and Canada, while the Sharks will take on Croatia, Serbia, Spain, Kazakhstan and Montenegro in the Tokyo pool games.