Winter – Massive Weekend for Aussie Winter Stars at World Championships and World Cups

Aerial skier Laura Peel and mogul skier Matt Graham have been crowned champions of the 2020/21 season, earning the Crystal Globe as the top-ranked athlete across the season.

Following her win in last week’s World Championships, Peel added the Crystal Globe, her second following her breakthrough win last year, while Matt Graham is the first Australian male to hold the moguls Crystal Globe since Dale Begg-Smith in 2010.

Snowboarder Scotty James won silver at the Halfpipe World Championships in Aspen. 

Aiming for a historic fourth straight World Championship title, James stomped a 90.50 to finish behind Japan’s Yuto Totsuka.

20-year-old Tess Coady won World Championship bronze in snowboard slopestyle, joining the legendary Torah Bright as the only Australian snowboarder to win a World Championship medal in slopestyle.

Coady’s best run scored 78.13, including a smooth rail section at the top of the course followed by the jump section with a switch backside 900, backside 720 and a frontside 720 with a double grab.

Cycling – BMX Freestyle and MTB National Champs crowned

Natalya Diehm and Logan Martin made it a national championship 3-peat at the BMX Freestyle titles in Melbourne, with Diehm overcoming a broken wrist suffered in February to claim her third straight title.

Australia’s queen and king of Cross-Country Olympic racing Rebecca and Daniel McConnell retained their national crownsat the 2021 AusCycling Mountain Bike National Championships in Tasmania, with Rebecca’s win making it eight straight.

Athletics – Kennedy soars to national record and runners hit Tokyo qualifying times

Pole vaulter Nina Kennedy soared to a new national record of 4.82m at the Sydney Track Classic.

The Perth jumper topped the previous record of 4.81m, held by Alana Boyd. 

“I’ve attempted it five or six times this season so to nail it on my first attempt [tonight] I am just so happy,” Kennedy said.

Sprinter Riley Day ran a scorching 200m in 22.77 (+2.0), beating the Olympic qualifying standard by 0.03 seconds.

Jenny Blundell and Matthew Ramsden took out the women’s and men’s 5000m, and former World Champion Dani Stevens marked her return to competition following a serious injury in 2020, winning with 63.36m.

Find out more HERE

Triathlon – Hauser and Gentle crowned national champions in Mooloolaba

Matt Hauser and Ashleigh Gentle have taken out the Australian Standard Distance Championships in emphatic style at the Mooloolaba Triathlon.  

In just his fourth major Olympic distance event, Hauser outran the likes of Jake Birtwhistle and Aaron Royle to take home his second Australian title in as many weeks.  

“It was really good to take out the win and prove my form over the 10k run,” Hauser said. “It came down to the final [kilometre] or so on the run and luckily I was able to have the legs to push up over that hill and put in a bit of a surge and the boys couldn’t stick with me.”

Gentle won comfortably ahead of Jaz Hedgeland and Barbara Riveros. 

“It was a great race and I really enjoyed it,” Gentle said. “I’m at the very start of my prep for Tokyo, so I’m pretty happy with the race today. Obviously, you learn so much from just racing so I’ll take a lot away from today.”

Volleyball – Clancy/Artacho del Solar and McHugh/Schumann take out Aus Tour Finals

Top-seeded teams of Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho Del Solar and Chris McHugh and Damian Schumann claimed emphatic victories at the Australian Beach Volleyball Tour (ABVT) final at Coolangatta Beach to cap off an unbeaten summer for both pairs. 

Clancy and Artacho del Solar continued their winning streak in the final since returning to competition in the second event of the Australian domestic series, defeating fellow Olympians Nikki Laird and Becchara Palmer 2-0 (21-13, 21-15).

Schumann and McHugh made it a perfect four from four ABVT titles, with their victory over Max Guehrer and Zachery Schubert (21-15, 21-16) adding the Coolangatta title to their wins at Glenlg, Manly and Cobram.

Find out more HERE

Swimming – Edwards and Sloman one step closer to Tokyo Open Water Swimming goal

Kai Edwards and Noosa’s Nick Sloman will progress to the next stage of the Tokyo Olympic qualifying process after finishing first and second respectively in the Men’s 10km Open race at the 2021 Australian Open Water Swimming Championships in Coolum.

Spectators were treated to an epic finish as the duo pulled away from the lead pack and went stroke for stroke with 300 metres to go. Putting it all on the line – and pushing through gruelling pain – Edwards managed to narrowly edge out Sloman to claim the gold and his first 10km Australian title – 1:56:11.44 to 1:56:11.86. 

Edwards and Sloman will now travel to Fukuoka in Japan to contest at the qualifying event on 30 May in the hope of joining Kareena Lee on the Australian Olympic Team.

Lee, who secured her selection for Tokyo at the World Championships in 2019, took out the women’s 10km crown, her third successive national title.

Read more HERE

Paddle – Australia to host 2025 ICF World Championships

Penrith has been announced as host city for the 2025 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships.

25 years after it hosted canoe slalom at the Sydney Olympics, Penrith Whitewater Stadium will once again welcome the world’s best paddlers and host the canoe slalom and extreme canoe slalom world titles, with the International Canoe Federation (ICF) announcing the 2025 host over the weekend.

Australia’s best canoe slalom athletes were also in action over the weekend at the Penrith Open, with Australian Olympic Team selected athletes Jess Fox (WC1 & WK1), Daniel Watkins (MC1) and Lucien Delfour (MK1) crowned overall winners.

Find out more HERE