Australia’s 2018 Youth Olympic women’s golf champion Grace Kim has wasted no time in climbing to her first LPGA tour victory, while several amazing Aussie juniors across athletics and swimming have set the competition alight to highlight the weekend in sport.
Golf
Competing at only her third LPGA tour event, 22-year-old Grace Kim has won the Hawaii Championship.
In the final round Grace birdied the last two holes of regulation to bring herself into a tie on 12-under with Yu Liu of China and Yu Jin Sung of South Korea, forcing a playoff.
On the first playoff hole, the 18th, Grace kept rolling with another birdie to secure the title.
The win gives Grace a guaranteed place in the US Women's Open coming up in June.
Canoe Slalom
Sisters Jess and Noemie Fox showed their class at the Canoe Slalom National Championships, claiming the gold and silver medals respectively in the women’s C1, K1 and kayak cross events.
Competing at Penrith’s Whitewater Stadium in their last outing in Australia before they embark to Europe for the international season, the nation's top canoe slalom paddlers boasted strong performances and will carry confidence into an all-important season that will include qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Jess, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medallist, was pleased to finish the day with a clear run in the C1 - which she finished in a time of 102.14 seconds.
“The course is fairly open on the top, there are a couple of areas that are just about keeping the boat running and smooth and I didn’t have to make many changes,” Jess said.
“I knew I had a couple of time losses throughout the run in my semi-final, I was hoping to improve on those. Even in my final in K1 it didn’t feel too good on the bottom section even though the top did. I’m glad I put together a good run in the C1.
“My K1 semi felt nice. In the final, I was hoping to improve on the time but unfortunately it was two seconds slower. I lost a lot of that time on the bottom section."
Tasmania’s Kate Eckhardt joined the Fox sisters on the podium in both the C1 and K1 as she finished third in both classes.
The next events for Jess Fox will be the 2023 International Canoe Federation World Cup and World Championships season, with the first to be held in Augsburg, Germany from 2-4 June.
In the men’s K1, 26-year-old Angus Thompson won his inaugural national title, 16 years after he first appeared at the event as a 10-year-old.
Angus enjoyed a clear run in the final which he finished in a time of 90.67 seconds, ahead of Mark Crosbee in second and Dominic Curtin who was third.
“I’ve been to plenty of nationals but never got the number one, so it’s nice to finally get that one,” Angus said.
He closed out his nationals display with a win in the men’s kayak cross (formerly known as extreme slalom).
Victorian paddler Tristan Carter won the men’s C1 in a time of 97.77 seconds, from brothers Lachlan and Kaylen Basset who were second and third respectively.
“This weekend’s been a confidence boost. Showing and having evidence that things are going in the right direction,” Tristan said.
Athletics
On Saturday Gout Gout, the 15-year-old who holds the Australian U16 100m and 200m records, has now become the fastest boy over 200m in Australian history.
The track athlete from Ipswich in Queensland competed in the U18 200m at the Australian Junior Athletics Championships in Brisbane and won in a record time of 20.87 seconds – beating the previous mark by 0.03 seconds.
In setting the new record, Gout overtakes Australian athletics legend Darren Clarke, Paul Greene and Zane Branco who all recorded 20.90 over a 41-year period.
“It means a lot because I’ve been training so much for this. I was really nervous. The gun went, and I was good and I just kept pushing,” Gout said.
The Australian with South Sudanese heritage has quickly landed on the radar of athletics fans following his Australian record breaking runs in the U16s competitions late last year.
“This season has been mind blowing for me. Last year I came fourth and sixth at Nationals, and then I came out at All Schools and won. I was really motivated because I took last year personally, it always feels better when you are winning.”
Also on the track that day, Isaac Beacroft from New South Wales achieved what he once thought was unthinkable when shattering the 25-year-old Australian U18 5000m racewalking record, previously held by Troy Sundstrom.
Crossing the line in 19:51.81, he slashed more than 15 seconds off the previous record.
“I haven’t done a 5k in three and a half years or something, but I did a training walk the other day at Parkrun and did 20:20 so I felt pretty good,” Isaac said.
“I completely threw out the race tactics because we went through the first kilometre in 4:02 or something, which is a bit back on pace. I just trusted myself.”
Then on Sunday, Sally Pearson’s Australian U18 100m hurdles record was broken by 16-year-old Delta Amidzovski. She eclipsed the 2012 Olympic champion’s record of 13.14 by setting a new time of 13.02 seconds.
“I was just about to cry at the finish line, it’s such a blessing,” Delta said.
“You put in so much hard work and see it all pay off. It’s an indescribable feeling. Sally has always been an idol. She’s the best Australian hurdler of all-time, so to break her record is a dream come true for any athlete.”
Coming into the championships with a 13.42 lifetime best Delta, the youngest member of the Australian team at the 2022 World Athletics Under 20 Championships, said the record was not on her radar until she landed in Brisbane this week.
“I hadn’t really looked [at the record] until I came here but my dad just said go for it. He said give it everything you can. I didn’t think I would get it but the fact that I did it, I’m really happy. I’ve got a while to keep improving on this too.”
The Australian records in the boys competition weren’t safe either, as Jack Love set a national U18 record in the 400m hurdles, clocking 51.62 to lower fellow Queenslander Sasha Alexeenko’s record from December of 2008.
“My personal best coming in was 52.6 but I knew I had it in the bag, there were just a couple of things I needed to touch up in training,” Jack said.
“I stayed consistent in training, I was expecting to do my best today but I didn’t expect an Aussie record.
“My goal was to get to the 200m mark consistent and stay smooth all the way around the bend, then just bring it home and I managed to do that well.”
The silver medallist, New South Welshman Matthew Hunt, equalled the previous record with a 51.75-second run.
Also over the weekend the 2022 Athletics Australia awards were revealed, with Olli Hoare receiving the Bruce McAvaney award for performance of the year.
Swimming
On the final night of the 2023 Australian Age Championships on the Gold Coast, Jesse Coleman set the first and only individual national record of the meet.
His time in the boys 16-18 years 100m butterfly, 52.04, beat an 11-year-old record set by London 2012 Olympian Jayden Hadler (52.09).
It was Jesse's second record of the week after he combined with Bond University teammates Kody Byrne, Gideon Burnes and Flynn Southam to take down the 16-18 years 4x100m club medley relay.
An outstanding swim was also produced by 16-year-old Olivia Wunsch in the 100m freestyle, who went within 0.13 of Olympic relay champion Mollie O’Callaghan’s time.
Today the Australian Swimming Championships get underway, also on the Gold Coast, featuring the nation’s top Olympic and Paralympic swimmers including Cate Campbell, Emma McKeon, Kaylee McKeown, Ariarne Titmus, Zac Stubblety-Cook, Kyle Chalmers and Elijah Winnington.
Get more details and tickets here.
Badminton
Kenneth Choo and Gronya Somerville have won the mixed doubles at the Dutch International, defeating England's Brandon Zhi Hao Yap and Annie Lado 21-18 23-21 in the final.
While women’s pair Tiffany Ho and Angela Yu came within a win of a spot in the final, going down to Hsu Yin-Hui (TPE) and Lee Chih Chen (TPE) 21-17 21-14 in the semi-finals.
