From Beach Volleyball gold in Poland to Archery and Rugby teams securing quota spots for Tokyo 2020, Aussie athletes have been micing it with the best in the world this weekend.
WEEKEND WRAP: From Beach Volleyball gold in Poland to Archery and Rugby teams securing quota spots for Tokyo 2020, Aussie athletes have been mixing it with the best in the world this weekend.
Beach Volleyballers Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar have struck gold in Poland, winning the Warsaw 4-star Beach Volleyball tournament.
The pair defeated USA’s Emily Stockman and Kelley Larsen to claim their fifth ever World Tour gold.
Find out more and check out the highlights here.
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Australia’s Canoe Slalom team kicked off their World Cup season, with Jess Fox taking bronze in both the C1 and K1 events in London.
Great Britain’s pair of Mallory Franklin and Kimberley Woods took the C1 gold and silver on their home course, ahead of Fox, the reigning C1 and K1 World Champion.
“You’ve got to fight for every victory and you can’t really get used to winning,” Fox said. “You earn your victories with the good paddling and this wasn’t my best paddling.
“There were girls who were much better than me today and they deserve that gold and silver medal because the paddled extremely well on their home course.
“I had an amazing season last year and it’s hard to back that up but I’m feeling good and paddling well and even though I didn’t show it to my potential today, I’m still pleased to come away with two medals and I look forward to next week and get to Bratislava for the second World Cup.”
Daniel Watkins is also looking forward to the second world cup round after promising performances in the men’s K1 on Sunday. Watkins started the day with a fourth place in the semi-final to make his second ever world cup final on the senior level where he finished tenth.
Check out all the results here.
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Triathlete Matt Hauser has put together another stunning World Cup performance in Nur-Sultan in Kazakhstan to take out the win over a quality field.
With the race moving to a duathlon format of 5km run /40km bike /10km run due to water quality concerns, Hauser showed class and stamina as he pulled away from Wian Sullwald (RSA) and quality runner Matt McElroy (USA) in the final stages of the race to take home the win.
“I was really happy with that and got a lot of confidence,” Hauser said. “I came back with a bit of a chip on my shoulder this year and wanting to prove a few things.”
Hauser’s win in Nur-Sultan comes off the back of a gold medal performance in Chengdu in May and places him in good stead ahead of the Tokyo 2020 test event in August.
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Twenty-seven swimmers have been selected to represent Australia at July’s World Championships after some scintillating swims at the trials in Brisbane last week.
Headlined by Ariarne Titmus and Mitch Larkin setting new Commonwealth Records in the 400m Freestyle and 200m Individual Medley, the trials highlighted the Australians are ready to take on the world’s best.
Check out the full team and relive the best moments here.
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Australia’s women’s Rugby 7s team finished their season fourth in the World Series rankings, earning them a quota spot for Tokyo 2020.
The team finished fifth in Biarritz, with a tight 15-14 loss to Spain in the quarter finals keeping the Aussies out of medal contention.
After dominating day 1 of competition with wins over Spain, Canada and Ireland, the Aussies bounced back from their quarter final loss to beat Russia and France for 5th place, securing enough points to cement themselves in the overall Top 4 ranking.
Find out more here.
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The men’s recurve Archery team of Taylor Worth, Ryan Tyack and David Barnes finished fifth at the 2019 Archery World Championships in the Netherlands, securing their Tokyo 2020 quota spot by finishing in the top 8.
With Olympic quota spots on the line, the round of 16 playoffs were the tensest of the year. Rising to meet the challenge, the Australian team shot a perfect 30 to take down Turkey (30-25).
Despite going down to China in the quarter final, Australian Taylor Worth, who won bronze in the Archery teams event at Rio 2016, was ecstatic to lock in a quota spot for the country.
“Going to the Olympics is the pinnacle event for pretty much all sporting avenues,” he said.
“Securing spots this early… we can just get into big hard training blocks now and try and secure those spots for ourselves when the trials come.”
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The Hockeyroos and Kookaburras have both secured their place in the FIH Pro League finals with 3-1 and 2-1 victories respectively over Germany in Krefeld.
Check out how the teams locked in a finals berth here.
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The Rabat Diamond League saw Brandon Starc finish 5th in the high jump, clearing a season’s best of 2.25, while Stewart McSweyn clocked an outdoor season’s best of 3.36.30 in the 1500m for 5th ahead of teammate Ryan Gregson in 13th.
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Australian skaters are tracking well ahead of Skateboarding’s Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020. At the Dew Tour event in Long Beach, USA, Keegan Palmer won bronze in the men’s park event, with Victorian Hayley Wilson finishing 4th in women’s street.
olympics.com.au
