It became a golden 28th birthday for Jess Fox at World Cup competition in the Czech Republic, and the Socceroos have booked their ticket to the World Cup in extraordinary circumstances to highlight the Olympic sports action.
Canoe & Kayak
Jess Fox took out the women’s K1 at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup in Prague on Saturday.
She said it was nice to return to the top of the K1 podium, the 36th World Cup gold medal of her career, after winning bronze at last year’s Tokyo Olympics and missing the final at the 2021 World Championships.
“It was challenging with the world championships, and with the Olympics winning bronze, but I won the overall world cup title in the kayak, so I knew it was there, I just had to pull it out in those runs,” Jess said.
“To do that today was awesome, I felt really good and really happy with how I delivered after that early mistake.
“I told myself to have a good start, be safe, and straight away I smash gate two. From there I just had to try and lift and push, and I made a little mistake in the middle, but I had an excellent bottom and I really gave it everything at the finish line. And I’m still stuffed.”
In the extreme kayak event, a new Olympic discipline for Paris 2024, Noemie Fox (Jess’ younger sister) and Tim Anderson had the highest finishes, placing fourth in the women’s event and men’s event respectively.
After three months of no white-water training in Australian due to flooding and water contamination at the Penrith White Water Stadium, the entire team struggled in the C1 with Tristan Carter the best finishing Aussie in 19th.
Football
Olympians Nathaniel Atkinson, Kye Rowles and Mitch Duke all started in the Socceroos’ penalty shootout win against Peru, securing a place in the FIFA World Cup.
Coached by Graham Arnold, head coach of the Olyroos at Tokyo 2020, Australia (world no.42) beat the world no.22 side in Qatar 5-4 on penalties after being deadlocked at 0-0.
Arnold heralded the triumph as a milestone moment for football in Australia.
“I am so proud of the players, staff, and everyone who has been involved in our campaign over the past four years,” he said.
“Throughout COVID, players and staff had to live away from their families for weeks and sometimes months on end to help our nation achieve today’s result and our goal of qualification for a fifth straight FIFA World Cup.”
The AOC has congratulated Football Australia on this magnificent achievement.
Australia is set to take on reigning world champions France, Tunisia, and Denmark in Group D in November.
Beach Volleyball
The men’s and women’s Beach Volley World Championships are in full swing, with the Aussies set to progress into the round of 32.
World champs debutants Izac Carracher and Mark Nicolaidis topped their pool winning two of their three matches so far. Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho have also won two out of three to sit second in their pool, which sees them move on to the knockout rounds.
The round of 32 draw will take place at 9pm on Tuesday 14 June (AEST).
Diving
Ahead of the Diving World Championships later this month, Melissa Wu and Charli Petrov have won gold in the women’s open platform synchro at the FINA Diving Grand Prix in Calgary, Canada.
For Melissa and Charli, just 14 years of age, it was their first international event competing together.
Melissa Wu and 14-year-old Charli Petrov teamed up to win gold in the women’s open platform synchro finals.
Cycling
Tokyo 2020 road cyclist Grace Brown put together an amazing effort to finish second on the Women’s Tour in Britain, trailing the winner of the 720km week-long race by one second.
She was very nearly joined on the podium by fellow Aussie Alexandra Manly who placed fourth.
Meanwhile the UCI BMX World Cup shifted to the USA on the weekend, with Izaac Kennedy recording back-to-back podium finishes to start the season.
Triple Olympian Lauren Reynolds made her return to the UCI Racing World Cup after two years away.
Sport Climbing
19-year-old Tokyo 2020 sport climber Oceania Mackenzie made her first World Cup semi-final.
She competed at the International Federation of Sport Climbing World Cup in Brixen, Italy and finished 18th overall.
Equestrian
The Australian Senior Green Team have ridden to victory at the 2022 Oceania Championships.
The competition culminated with the showjumping phase, seeing the Australian Green Team maintain their lead to win the overall Senior Championships on a score of 107.3. The Australian Senior Gold Team finished second on 111.9, followed by New Zealand with 125.6.
Australia's Green Team included triple Olympian Shane Rose, riding Easy Turn.
Shane Rose, Jessica Rae, Lauren Browne, Sam Jeffree, and Roger Kane (Technical Delegate). Werribee Park, Victoria. Photo credit: Australian Equestrian Team / Kirsty Pasto
Judo
The 2022 Australian National Championships have come to a close after an exciting weekend of competition on the Gold Coast.
Senior women’s winners included Tokyo 2020 Olympians Katharina Haecker (-63kg) and Aoife Coughlan (-70kg), plus Yumiko Hayashi (-48kg), Tinka Easton (-52kg), Charisma Taylor (-57kg) and Georgia Aiesi (+78kg).
With Nathan Katz on the mend from recent knee surgery and not competing, his brother Josh has won in the -66kg field.
Senior men’s winners also included Jackson Hole (-60kg), Jake Bensted (-73kg), Sam King (-81kg), Harrison Cassar (-90kg), Kayhan Ozcicek-Takagi (-100kg) and Liam Park (+100kg).
Tennis
Ellen Perez has won her first WTA title in 2022 and the fourth of her career, winning the women’s doubles in s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands with Tamara Zidansek (SLO).
They took out the no.1 seeds on grass, Kudermetova and Elise Mertens, in the final 6-3 5-7 [12-10].
At the same tournament the Aussie combo of Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell also earned a spot in the men’s doubles final. It was another tight affair with Wesley Koolhof (NED) and Neal Skupski (GBR) prevailing in a tie-breaker 4-6 7-5 [10-6].
Queen’s Birthday honours
Olympians Jakara Anthony, Ash Barty, Colin Coates and Lee Naylor have been recognised in this year's Queen's Birthday honours.
Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics gold medallist Jakara Anthony was acknowledged for her winning performance in the Women's Moguls, Tokyo 2020 Olympian Ash Barty for her service to tennis and youth development while Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 sprinter Lee Naylor was recognised for her service to athletics.
Colin Coates competed in an astonishing six Olympic Games in speed skating and has been recognised for his services.
