Aussie cyclists and tennis players took on international competition down under, and the 15-strong Aussie Stingers World Championship squad was revealed.
Cycling – Aussies Take Sprint and Mountains Titles at Down Under
The Tour Down Under finished in Adelaide on Sunday, with Australians Sam Welsford and Luke Burns taking out the overall Points and King of the Mountains titles respectively.
Welsh rider Stevie Johnson won the final stage and overall tour honours, sprinting to victory at Mount Lofty.
Tokyo 2020 track cycling Olympian Sam Welsford won three of the six stages of the Tour Down Under, enroute to securing the overall points victory ahead of second place Biniam Girmay from Eritrea.
Welsford’s third stage victory on Friday came on his 28th birthday, giving extra reasons to celebrate.
Burns took the lead in the King of the Mountains classification on the second stage and never relinquished his lead.
Damian Howson was the top ranked Australian in general classification, finishing ninth, 42 seconds behind Stevie Johnson.
Find out more here.
Tennis – 7 Aussies through to day 9 of the Australian Open
Australia’s top ranked men’s singles player Alex de Minaur bowed out in round four of the men’s singles, going down to world no. 5 Andrey Rublev on day 8 of the Australian Open.
Two men’s doubles pairs, Max Purcell/Jordan Thompson and Rinky Hijikata/Jason Kubler both saw defeat in round two, whilst Storm Hunter and her partner Katerina Siniakova (CZE) defeated the all-Aussie duo of Destanee Aiava and Maddison Inglis to advance to round three of the women’s doubles.
In the mixed doubles, Olivia Gadecki and Marc Polmans are through to the second round after they defeated Hao-Ching Chan (TWN) and Santiago Gonzalez (MEX), whilst Kimberly Birrell and John Peers’ campaign finished after their loss to Su-Wei Hsieh (TWN) and Jan Zielinski (POL).
Find more results here.
Entering the final week, seven Aussies are still alive in the tournament across mixed and women’s doubles.
Competing in the mixed doubles are Olivia Gadecki and Marc Polmans who will play against New Zealand’s Michael Venus and Aldila Sutiadi (IND) for a spot in the third round.
World no. 17 doubles player Ellen Perez and her Dutch partner Jean-Julien Rojer are set to play off against the United Kingdom’s pairing of Joe Salibury and Heather Watson in round two of the mixed doubles.
An all-Aussie showdown in the mixed doubles sees Tokyo 2020 Olympian Storm Hunter and Matt Ebden take on Jaimee Fourlis and Andrew Harris in round two for a spot in the quarter-finals.
Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova (CZE) are through to the quarterfinals of the women’s doubles, whilst Matt Ebden and Rohan Bopanna (IND) will play for their chance to make the quarter-finals in the men’s doubles.
Read more here.
Swimming – Horton draws curtain on Macknificent career
Olympic champion and clean sport advocate Mack Horton has announced his retirement from international competition, bringing an end to his incredible service to the Australian Dolphins.
Mack joined the Dolphins senior squad in 2014 and amassed six gold medals across Olympic, World and Commonwealth Games while positively impacting national teammates and members of the greater the swimming community.
“I dearly wanted to swim in Paris but the hunger wasn’t there. I always want to give my all and I am not someone who just wants to make up the numbers, so this is the right time to step away,” Mack said.
“I have felt so privileged to represent Australia and wear the green and gold … I just hope Australia thinks I did them proud.
“I am so grateful for my time in swimming and in regard to legacy, I hope my teammates and the sport think that I was able to help them and the sport in some way.
“And I hope they just remember me as Mack.”
The 27-year-old retires as an Olympic gold medallist in the 400m freestyle at the 2016 Rio Olympics, a bronze medallist in the 4x200m freestyle relay in Tokyo and an athlete leader renowned for his integrity, values and courage to stand up for what he believes in.
Read more here.
Water Polo – Stingers World Championship Squad Announced
The 15-strong Aussie Stingers squad to take on the World Championships in Doha next month was announced, in an important tournament for Paris 2024 preparations.
Featuring six Tokyo Olympians, the squad will face Hungary, New Zealand and Singapore in the group stages of the tournament.
Stingers Head Coach Bec Rippon said: “It’s an interesting time for us to have a World Championships and an Olympics in the same year, but I think it’s also really important for us to get out there and get some game time at this level.
“We’ve picked a team that has a great mix of experience and youth, and it’s time for us to go out there and put into practice in pressure situations what we’ve spent time refining in Queensland over the past couple of weeks.”
See the whole squad and find out more here.
