Matthew Richardson’s defeat of an 11-time world champion and two-time Olympic champion highlights a massive weekend of Olympic sports action, including three individual World Cup winners in winter sports.
Cycling
Matthew Richardson is the 2022 UCI Track Champions League men's sprint champion, edging out rival Harrie Lavreysen (NED) for the title in London, England.
Five rounds of competition across four countries it came down to the keirin final to determine which cyclist would be crowned champion.
The win for Matthew earned him the blue jersey and the champions league trophy.
Rugby 7s
The Aussie women’s rugby sevens side have started their World Series title defence by winning the opening leg of the season in Dubai.
They met New Zealand in the final, which marked the 19th World Series final between our trans-tasman rivals, and ran out 26-19 victors.
Co-captains Charlotte Caslick and Demi Hayes combined for the final try to put the Kiwis away.
It is the third straight-season the Aussie women have won the season opener.
Also in Dubai, Australia’s men’s team finished sixth after falling to the USA in the quarter-finals and losing to Argentina in the fifth-place playoff.
Judo
Aoife Coughlan is now a Tokyo Grand Slam women’s -70kg silver medallist in her return to competing in the Olympic city.
Three straight wins, included one over Serafima Moscalu (ROU) in the semi-final gave her a guaranteed medal and a shot at gold against Japan's Saki Ziizoe.
Fellow Aussie Katharina Haecker finished fifth in the women’s -63kg division.
Athletics
Sinead Diver and Jack Robinson shattered long-standing Australian marathon records yesterday to create a historic day for Australian distance running.
Brett ran 2:07.31 at the Fukuoka International Marathon in Japan, breaking Robert de Castella’s 36-year-old record by 20 seconds.
Hours later Sinead clocked a scorching 2:21.34 in Valencia, Spain, to smash the 16-year-old record of Benita Willis by more than a minute.
Hockey
The Kookaburras have completed a 4-1 series win over India in Adelaide with a thrilling 5-4 victory in the final match.
The positive result comes on the eve of the World Cup, which will be hosted in India in January 2023.
Tom Wickham’s two first-half goals put Australia on their way to victory in the final match. Jake Whetton put the Kookaburras up 5-3 in the 54th minute and India responded in the 55th minute with a goal through Sukhjeet Singh, but Australia held on to close the match on top.
Kookaburras v India Series Results:
Match 1 - Kookaburras 5-4 India
Match 2 - Kookaburras 7-4 India
Match 3 - India 4-3 Kookaburras
Match 4 - Kookaburras 5-1 India
Match 5 - Kookaburras 5-4 India
The Kookaburras return to Perth to finalise their World Cup preparations before setting off to India early in the new year.
Beach Volleyball
Two Aussie pairs achieved podium finishes in the Pro Tour Elite 16 event at the Great Ocean Road Beach Volleyfest in Torquay - Tom Hodges/Zach Schubert silver, Taliqua Clancy/Mariafe Artacho del Solar bronze - drawing to a close a massive two weeks of world-class competition.
Football
The Socceroos’ deep run into the FIFA World Cup is over after suffering a 2-1 defeat in the round of 16 at the hands of Argentina, but they leave Qatar having achieved Australia’s most successful campaign ever.
It was the first time the Socceroos had two victories at the World Cup, while it was also the first time they’d kept two teams scoreless.
The final 26-man squad for the World Cup featured ten members of the Tokyo 2020 Olyroos’ squad: Nathaniel Atkinson, Keanu Baccus, Thomas Deng, Cameron Devlin, Joel King, Riley McGree, Kye Rowles, Harry Souttar, Marco Tilio, and Mitchell Duke as the overage player.
At 18 years and 79 days, Garang Kuol became the youngest player to play in the knockout stages of the FIFA World Cup since Pelé in 1958.
Table Tennis
Australia is set to enjoy its first ever medal at the Table Tennis World Youth Championships after a strong day one performance by the U15 Boys Team.
The team, made up of Aditya Sareen, Won Bae and Chulong Nie won three rubbers to one against the hosts Tunisia.
They will now play a semi-final against France, knowing that a medal has been secured.
Golf
Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee have given Australia two finishers in the top three of the men’s competition at the Australian Open in Victoria, while Hannah Green, Grace Kim and Minjee Lee all secured top five placings in the women’s field.
Only Poland’s Adrian Meronk bested Adam and Lee over the four rounds, with the champion (14-under) five strokes clear of Adam (9-under) and Lee (8-under).
Lee’s performance secured him one of three spots on offer to compete at the 2023 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, along with West Australian Haydn Barron who finished in a tie for fourth on 7-under at the Victoria Golf Club.
And that's how you secure a spot at @TheOpen. 🫢@haydnbarron | #AusOpenGolf pic.twitter.com/LW8zZzSw1s
— PGA of Australia | #VicPGA (@PGAofAustralia) December 4, 2022
The women’s Open was a tighter affair at the top, as the best five at the end of the tournament included Ashleigh Buhai (RSA) (12-under), Jiyai Shin (11-under), Hannah Green (10-under), Grace Kim (9-under) and Minjee Lee (8-under).
Snowboard Cross
Teenage Beijing 2022 Olympian Josie Baff has made an incredible start to the snowboard cross World Cup season, winning a World Cup event for the first time.
The podium placing is also the first of the 19-year-old's career in just her eighth World Cup start, becoming the second Aussie female snowboard cross rider to win a World Cup event.
Moguls
Beijing 2022 Olympic gold medallist Jakara Anthony was spectacular in the season-opening mogul skiing World Cup in Finland, claiming the fifth World Cup victory of her career with a huge score of 81.69 - more than three points ahead of second place.
“It’s my first win in Ruka ever,” Jakara said.
“To kick off the season with the win and the yellow bib is pretty massive. You come into the first event and you don’t know what everyone’s been doing since last season, so it’s exciting to come out and see what everyone can do and show off what you’re capable of.
“It’s a bit of a different experience for me this year, coming off such incredible experiences last season with the gold medal and the crystal globes.
“I’ve definitely got a bit of a target on my back now and I think there’s going to be a lot of learning experiences this season, but I’m really looking forward to it.”
In the men’s event, 2018 Olympic silver medallist Matt Graham bounced back strongly from his injury interrupted Olympic season to record the 19th podium placing of his World Cup career.
Joining Matt in finals were teammates Cooper Woods in tenth place, and rookie skier Jackson Harvey making finals and finishing 14th on World Cup debut.
Freestyle Skiing
Three-time Olympian Danielle Scott capped off an amazing start to the season for Australia’s winter sports athletes, recording the third World Cup victory of the weekend at the aerial skiing event in Ruka, Finland.
She led from start to finish over the three rounds of the event, leaving her best jump for last scoring 99.05 with a near perfect ‘double full-full’ triple twisting double back somersault jump.
“I can’t stop smiling, it’s been a really good day,” Danielle said.
