This weekend saw Aussie athletes across the world register important wins in surfing, athletics, cycling, shooting.
Surfing- Fitzgibbons claims ISA World Surfing Games gold
Sally Fitzgibbons continued her rich vein of form with a victory at the World Surfing Games in El Salvador’s Surf City this weekend.
Fitzgibbons’ third World Surfing Games gold medal comes as the 30-year-old continues to build preparations for Tokyo 2020.
In the final, Fitzgibbons bettered the efforts of Portuguese duo Yolanda Sequeria and Teresa Bonvalot through a strong performance to secure top honours in the competition.
The Illawarra native progressed to the final after standout displays in her heats landed her in the final stage of the competition.
As a whole, the Surfing Australia team, The Irukandjis finished fifth with Owen Wright just coming up short in Repechage 9, Stephanie Gilmore being eliminated in Repechage 7.
Julian Wilson progressed through to Round 4, while Ryan Callinan exited in Repechage 3.
.@SurfingAus's @Sally_Fitz had won her 3rd @ISAsurfing World Surfing Games! 👑 🏆
— AUS Olympic Team (@AUSOlympicTeam) June 6, 2021
Another huge win for Sally and just weeks away from surfing making its Olympic debut at #Tokyo2020 #TokyoTogether https://t.co/PrZWCzmava
Athletics - Tokyo qualifiers for Bol and Cashin
Victoria's Peter Bol is one step closer to a ticket to Tokyo after clinching the qualifying standard in the 800m at the first meet of the Oceania Athletics Invitation series on the Gold Coast.
Crossing the line in a time of 1:44.88, he finally bettered his PB of 1:45.23 to dip under the Tokyo qualifying standard.
Bol wasn't the only Aussie athlete to achieve an Olympic qualifier, with Amy Cashin running 9:28.60 in the 3000m Steeplechase at the Stumptown Twilight meet in Portland.
Cycling - Porte claims Dauphiné and BMX Olympic quotas on the line
Tasmania native Richie Porte earned a historic win at the Critérium du Dauphiné this weekend after staving off a number of challenges on the eighth stage of the race.
After finishing second in the 2013 and 2017 iterations of the race, Porte finally secured top honours to be crowned the first Australian since Phil Anderson in 1985 to achieve the feat.
The 36-year-old gained the lead in Dauphiné in the penultimate stage of the competition, and entered Sunday’s final leg with a 17-second lead ahead of Kazakhstan’s Alexey Lutsenko.
In the last stage, Porte withstood multiple attacks from rival cyclists and ultimately maintained his 17-second advantage until the finish line to lodge a victorious Dauphiné campaign.
The Australian contingent at the 2021 UCI BMX Freestyle World Championships have enjoyed a strong start to competition, with reigning world champion Brandon Loupos, 2017 world champion Logan Martin, Josh Matthews and Jaie Toohey all qualified to the tournament’s final.
Success in this tournament looms particularly important for Olympic qualification, as the top-ranked nation is allocated two representatives in Tokyo, instead of just one.
At the start of the 2021 World Championships, both Australia and the USA are tied as the highest-ranked nations meaning that a standout performance in Montpellier, France, will see an extra Australian representative in Tokyo later this year.
Tennis - Aussies exit early from French Open
The Australian contingent at the 2021 French Open have all suffered early exits from the tournament this year.
After a three-set victory against American Bernarda Pera in the first round, top-ranked Australian Ash Barty was forced to retire against Magda Linette in the second set of their clash.
In the men’s tournament, Alex de Minaur, Alexei Popyrin, James Duckworth and Christopher O’Connell all departed the tournament within the first two rounds of competition.
In her French Open debut, Queensland native Storm Sanders also fell to Belgian Elise Mertens 6-4, 6-1 in the first round.
Shooting - Podium finishes for Tokyo-bound shooters
It was podium finishes all round for Australia's Tokyo 2020-bound shooters at the Brisbane Cup 2 Championship on Saturday.
First up, was Sergei Evglevski, who claimed gold in the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol.
With the Victorian COVID-19 lockdown forcing Evglevski to compete remotely in Melbourne, the 23-year-old outscored Bailey Groves and Thomas Ashmore to capture top honours in the competition.
After registering a qualifying score of 577 points, Evglevski was the top-ranked competitor in the final and delivered a perfect string of five points from five shots to clinch victory from his Melbourne base.
Also competing remotely was Victorian, Elise Collier, who along with teammate, Dane Sampson, captured the Mixed 10m Air Rifle Pairs final event, edging the pair of Jack Rossiter and Emma Adams 16-12 in a highly competitive final.
On Sunday, Penny Smith took out the Queensland Clay Target Association’s women’s trap final in a shoot-off against Rio 2016 silver medallist and New Zealander Natalie Rooney.
With scores tied at 42 each after 50 targets, Smith prevailed 2-1 in the shoot-off to take gold from Rooney, who shapes as an eminent rival for the Australian shooting team in Tokyo.
Paul Adams enjoyed a dominant performance in the men’s Skeet final, with the Queensland native downing the first 39 targets without error to finish the final with a score of 57 from 60 targets.
