Summer Olympic Sports in between Olympics thread.

[AdelaideGT]

In Brisbane today, Dan Golubovic won the Oceania Decathlon title with a new PB of 8336. The 13th best performance in the world in 2021.

But below the Australian standard to earn selection for the Commonwealth Games (which is the same as for the World Championships).

An absolute joke.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

In Brisbane today, Dan Golubovic won the Oceania Decathlon title with a new PB of 8336. The 13th best performance in the world in 2021.

But below the Australian standard to earn selection for the Commonwealth Games (which is the same as for the World Championships).

An absolute joke.

It's all cost cutting reasons, and part of the funding battle between elite sports and high participation sports. Kieran Perkins last week was appointed CEO of the Australian Sports Commission which overseas Sport Australia and the AIS. Think he might be challenged even more in that job than he was at Atlanta and Sydney Olympics in the 1,500m. It won't be a Barcelona breeze for Kieran.

It's one of the reasons why Swimming Oz had tougher qualifying times than FINA and IOC set for the Tokyo Olympics. The Yanks used FINA's qualifying times for their team selection.

 

[AdelaideGT]

It's one of the reasons why Swimming Oz had tougher qualifying times than FINA and IOC set for the Tokyo Olympics. The Yanks used FINA's qualifying times for their team selection.

It's stupid. Athletics is a much harder standard for Aussies than swimming (or cycling, equestrian etc etc) to reach cos you don't have Kenyan or Ethiopian (etc) athletes to compete against. Understandable that swimming qualifying standards are higher.

In Decathlon, Golubovic's performance is the #4 of all time for Australians and the #13 in the world for 2021. Crazy if it's supposedly not enough to get him to the Comm Games (where he would be ranked #4 even if everyone competes which is unlikely with the World Champs a month before).

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Aidan Murphy was on the 5AA sports show on Wednesday. Tim Ginever is hosting whilst Stephen Rowe is on Christmas holidays.

The segment starts at 1.07.42 and ends at 1.13.12, but Aidan speaks between 1.08.16 and 1.12.36.

He is a pretty relaxed, even a little naive, as you would expect of an 18 year old who has only been doing athletics seriously for 2 seasons, would be. His coach Peter Fitzgerald, lives in Melbourne so he has been coaching Aidan via phone and sending videos to each other this year. Only got together for 6 weeks over 2021, and finally got to see him race a couple of weeks ago, so i assume that's the weekend he ran the 20.64 for 200m on 27th November.

He's asked about the Commonwealth Games (aths 2nd-7th Aug) and World Junior Champs (1st-6th Aug) which unfortunately are on the same time and he might have to choose, says will see how he goes, but wants to go to Comm Games for the experience before Paris.

If he keeps running well and improving up to the end of the season come late March - early April at the Oz nationals in Sydney, he might be going to the World Champs in Eugene Oregon which are on 15th-24th July.

 

[AdelaideGT]

His coach Peter Fitzgerald, lives in Melbourne so he has been coaching Aidan via phone and sending videos to each other this year.

Thanks for that. Wasn't sure if it was the 1976 Olympian who is his coach.

 

[AdelaideGT]

Shame in that radio cast that someone says his Mum Tania Van Heer ran in the Sydney Olympics but sadly due to injury she didn't and never competed in an Olympics (and just one Comm Games where - thankfully - she was a star).

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Thanks for that. Wasn't sure if it was the 1976 Olympian who is his coach.

I think it is. there is a picture of his coach in this article from last week.

No Cookies | The Advertiser

No Cookies

www.adelaidenow.com.au

 

[AdelaideGT]

there is a picture of his coach

Can't see it as I'm not paying for Advertiser/news.com.au articles.

I do have a photo of him showing his arse to Victorian sprinters back in the 70s though where he got into some trouble from officials by dropping his dacks after winning a race.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Can't see it as I'm not paying for Advertiser/news.com.au articles.

I do have a photo of him showing his arse to Victorian sprinters back in the 70s though where he got into some trouble from officials by dropping his dacks after winning a race.

You need an anti-paywall piece of software and you can get around all the Oz Murdoch stuff. It doesn't work for The Times and I think the WSJ.

In this other article from March, on the eve of his Melbourne Track classic debut it says;

No Cookies | Herald Sun

No Cookies

www.heraldsun.com.au

Aidan is a muscled-up 195cm and still growing, which has been a major problem throughout his short career. “I think it’s from the grandparents on both sides,” Van Heer says about the startling physical difference between mother and son.
.....
She describes her son’s running style as like a baby giraffe given the troubles his body had adapting to several growth spurts.

“His body has finally caught up,” she says. “He ran like a baby giraffe, he was so uncoordinated and then about 12 months ago he grew into his body, he matured and you could see the changes started to happen.”

Aidan cringes when told about his mother’s description of him but admits “it’s pretty accurate, actually”. “I had issues with my hips as my bones hadn’t fully developed and it was more the case that my muscles were too strong for my bones,” he says.

......

“I’m not expecting too much,” Aidan says. “I would rarely choose a 400 but I want to get a bit more speed endurance heading into the nationals.

“I‘m definitely a 200m runner but I can’t decide between the 100 or the 400 at the moment as my other event.”

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Jess Trengove - Jess Stenson these days, ran her first marathon in 3 years, (she gave birth to her son in late 2019) in October, in Perth and ran a PB, and ran in the Melbourne half marathon in the 2nd week in December and finished 3rd.

My niece who used to do athletics, is friends with Jess and I asked her at Christmas time if she was going to run at World Champs in Eugene or at the Comm Games in Birmingham, a couple of weeks later, and she said Jess hadn't made up her mind yet which one she would run in. I asked my niece if she had talked to Jess about Paris, and my niece said Jess might have another child before then, so its not her big priority at the moment.





An article from ABC Sports after Jess ran in Perth.

'It shifts your mindset': How becoming a mum helped marathon runner Jess Stenson smash her personal best

Olympic marathon runner Jess Stenson says becoming a mother has helped her reach new heights, after setting a new personal best time in her first marathon in three years.

www.abc.net.au

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Some decent results last weekend in athletics around Oz. A cut and paste of some from;

Record breakers headline action-packed weekend | Australian Athletics

At the rate and level at which Australian athletes are currently performing, national records may best be written in pencil rather than ink – with Jessica Hull and Oliver Hoare proving case in point when creating history at the Millrose Games over the weekend. Oliver Hoare (Dathan Ritzenhein)...

www.athletics.com.au

Aidan Murphy continues his impressive form and now has the open age SA 100m record

10.20 +3.4 m/s 27 November 2021 illegal wind
10.64 -1.7 m/s 11 December 2021
10.36 +1.5 m/s 29 January 2022

Which basically confirms his speed as a bit better than mid point of the difference in wind of 3 run last year he produces a bit less better the approx mid point time. ( mid point +0.9 = 10.42).

He also ran 20.62 for 200m on 8th january 2022, A bit better than his 20.64 on

The world junior qualifying action didn’t stop there, with prodigious junior Aiden Murphy (Peter Fitzgerald) charging down the straight in a new Open state record of 10.35 (+1.5), backing up the run with a 46.83 performance over 400m.

Oliver Hoare (Dathan Ritzenhein) toed the line in the Men’s Wanamaker Mile as one of the favourites after a breakout 2021 campaign, living up to the hype when dismantling a world-class field in a new Australian and Oceania record of 3:50.83.

“I have been wanting to win this prestigious event ever since I came to college in the US. I don’t think an Australian has won it in a very long time so to be able to get an Aussie on that trophy was a cool thing to accomplish,” he said.

The feat sees Hoare become the 11th fastest indoor miler in history, and with the World Athletics Indoor Championships less than two months away, the Australian has established himself as a major contender – with his personal bests from 800m-5000m now all indoor marks.

Jessica Hull (Pete Julian) made it a pair of national and area indoor mile records when clocking 4:24.06 to surpass Sarah Jamieson’s 2007 Australian record and Kim Smith’s 2008 Oceania record. The run was good enough for fourth place in the Women’s Wanamaker Mile, with the stacked field providing Hull with the opportunity to test herself against the world’s best ahead of a blockbuster 2022.

“I’ve got a couple of years of experience now and I’ve shown myself I can make championship finals. This year I want to make the jump to being a contender in global finals and towards the front of some of the big meets on the calendar. I’m preparing to take the next step,” she said.

Hull is all but hoarding national records, now holding six of them ranging from 1500m-5000m across both indoor and outdoor performances.


Back on home soil and it was Nina Kennedy (Paul Burgess) who made a successful return to the runway in Perth, opening her season with a casual 4.70m clearance off 12-steps. The performance sets up the 24-year-old for a big year on the international circuit, with the Australian record holder’s capabilities well known.

Liz Clay (Sharron Hannan) joined in on the action as she dusted off the cobwebs with a run of 13.14 over the 100m hurdles into a slight headwind, with the Tokyo semi-finalist eager to make an impression with deep runs at various major championships in 2022.

Hana Basic (John Nicolosi) was pipped on the line by training partner Mia Gross (John Nicolosi) in the heats of the Women’s 100m at the ACT State Championships, as Gross set a new personal best of 11.39 (+1.0) before Basic returned serve to win the final into a stiff headwind.


Chris Mitrevski (John Boas) kicked off his season in style with a leap of 7.86m to take out the long jump in Canberra, as he eyes an Australian tracksuit in 2022 after narrowly missing qualification for Tokyo on ranking points.


Twin sisters Isabella and Jasmin Guthrie (Angus McEntyre) joined in on the world junior action, clinching two qualifiers of their own when setting substantial personal bests of 58.42 and 53.85 in the 400m hurdles and 400m respectively - with Isabella finishing second behind Olympian Sarah Carli (Melissa Logan) in 57.10. Paige Campbell (Greg Smith) also achieved the world junior standard in the 400m when running 54.89.


It’s easy to forget that Tokyo Olympian Ellie Beer (Brett Robinson) is still a junior, but 24.39 and 53.66 200m/400m double in Canberra qualifies her for both events at the World Athletics Under 20 Championships – should she not continue her run on senior national teams.

Rising Victorian Ryan Tarrant (Adam Larcom) clocked a 200m world junior qualifier of his own when running 21.34 over 200m to join the likes of Aiden Murphy and Cooper Sherman and bolster the junior sprinting ranks. Meanwhile, Erin Shaw (Jack McArdle) picked up where she left off when clearing 1.83m in the high jump to take care of the world junior standard as she eyes big things in Cali, Columbia.

The middle-distance athletes chimed in with some world junior qualifiers of their own, with Hayden Todd (Faye Todd) stopping the clock in 1:50.40 over 800m and Cameron Myers tearing his way around the metric mile in 3:48.05 – whilst Montana Monk (Scott Westcott) 2:06.52 over 800m places her contention for the Championships.

The world junior qualifying action didn’t stop there, with prodigious junior Aiden Murphy (Peter Fitzgerald) charging down the straight in a new Open state record of 10.35 (+1.5), backing up the run with a 46.83 performance over 400m. Queensland’s Calab Law (Andrew Iselin) and Jai Gordon (Jackie Gallagher) also clocked a pair of world junior qualifiers in the 100m, with 10.54 and 10.55 respectively.


Back on US soil and the NCAA action is heating up, headlined by a series of scorching runs by Australians over 3000m at various indoor meets.

Jackson Sharp (Wisconsin) led the charge with a blistering 7:51.65, whilst Villanova duo Josh Phillips (Villanova) and Haftu Strintzos (Villanova) managed times of 7:59.44 and 8:00.77. Steeplechaser Ky Robinson (Stanford) looks to be in top form despite the absence of the barriers, crossing the finish line of his encounter in 7:56.80.

......

 

[AdelaideGT]

Rohan Browning who ran well in the Olympics last year will race in Adelaide Saturday week where he is likely to clash with young Aid.

Other Aussie Olympians down for the Adelaide Invitational include sprinter Riley Day and 800m star Peter Bol.

Aidan's new record means that the Murphy household now owns the vast majority of South Australian sprint records:

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

AdelaideGT do you know where I can find an event schedule for the Adelaide Invitational on 12th February. I've looked all over their website and I can't find anything other than basic info and link to buying tickets. Thinking of going, but at this stage can't get there before 7pm, maybe as late as 7.30, and it starts at 6.30.

 

[AdelaideGT]

do you know where I can find an event schedule for the Adelaide Invitational on 12th February

Nope - it doesn't appear to be available yet.

Athletics Australia have been slack with this over the covid era. It should have been finalised by now though, so hopefully will get published in the next few days. If I find it, I'll post it here.

Aidan will have some strong opposition besides Rohan Browning. The names confirmed so far - plus their fastest time this season:

10.36 Aidan MURPHY S
10.44 Jake DORAN Q
10.47 Harrison HUNT S
NONE Rohan BROWNING N (10.01 July 2021)
NONE Jack HALE T (10.21 Feb 2021)

20.62 Aidan MURPHY S
20.71 Connor DIFFEY Q
20.84 Alex BECK Q
20.85 Jake DORAN Q
21.17 Harrison HUNT S

 

[AdelaideGT]

Nothing too exciting from around the traps today. Mother Nature was either not helpful or a little too helpful in some states.

Best runs today were probably from Ella Connolly in Brisbane where she ran a slightly windy 11.31 over 100m and then a very solid 23.17 for 200m into a stiff headwind.

Stawell Gift winner Dhruv Rodrigues Chico also ran a 100m PB of 10.41 with a just legal wind in Geelong. At Aberfeldie in Melbourne, 18yo Ryan Tarrant proved himself to be a likely junior challenger to Aidan Murphy at the nationals with a PB of 10.53.

Judging by improvements so far this season, Australia might be able to put together a strong 4x100m team for the World Junior Championships:

10.35 Aidan Murphy S
10.53 Ryan Tarrant V
10.54 Calab Law Q
10.55 Jai Gordon Q
10.61 Connor Bond Q

 

[AdelaideGT]

10.54 Calab Law Q

Calad won a (very) wind-assisted 100m in Brisbane today with 10.24 so even faster relay team potentially.

 

[AdelaideGT]

RussellEbertHandball

Timetable for AI finally out:

and entry lists: https://cdn.revolutionise.com.au/cups/aa/files/srukozpnhd0uyhi3.pdf

Looks like even with a late arrival, you will see Browning vs Murphy & others in the 100!

 

[AdelaideGT]

Aidan will have some strong opposition besides Rohan Browning. The names confirmed so far - plus their fastest time this season:

Sadly Connor Diffey seems to have pulled out of the meet so Aidan will not be pushed as much in the 200 (where he is aiming for an AUS U20 record of 20.3) but the sprint fields still look to be pretty impressive - probably the strongest seen in Australia since pre-covid days.

Seasonal (Nov 21 to Feb 22)Bests

11.25 Connolly
11.33 Lewis-U18 (& 11.18w)
11.36 Masters
11.39 Gross
11.71 Quirk (& 11.56w)
11.75 Cruttenden-U20
11.80 Fighera
NM--- Day (11.31/11.18w 2021)
NM--- Lane (11.39/11.31w 2021)

23.17 Connolly
23.25 Masters
23.53 Lewis
23.56 Fighera
23.68 Quirk
23.72 Gross
NM--- Day (22.56 2021)

10.23 Penny (& 10.22w)
10.27 Mitrevski (& 10.21w)
10.29 Osei-Nketia NZL
10.35 Murphy-U20 (& 10.20w)
10.39 Roberts (& 10.20w)
10.40 Despard
10.44 Doran (& 10.41w)
NM--- Browning (10.01/9.93w 2021)
NM--- Hale (10.21 2021)

20.62 Murphy-U20
20.85 Doran
20,89 Taib MAS
21.20 Roberts
21.26 Hunt
21.30 Despard

Good fields in the 5000s too and a couple of big names in the 800s & Steeples.

 

[AdelaideGT]

Well, it was a good meet in Adelaide last night. Reminds me of the great crowds we used to see for this meet when it was held at lovely old Olympic Sports Field and up to 10,000 would attend to see the likes of Linford Christie and Cathy Freeman.

Rohan Browning & Riley Day started their seasons in great form and other sprinters like Aidan Murphy & Ella Connolly continued their recent fast runs.

Another local Izzy Batt-Doyle ran a great 5000m with strong front-running and she's likely to go even faster with better competition in the next couple of months.

Training partners Peter Bol & Bendere Oboye also opened their seasons over 800m, with Oboye running well in her debut over the distance, though showing her inexperience.

Adelaide also hosted the Oceanian Racewalking Championships this morning and Jemima Montag broke Jane Saville's national 20km record which has stood for many years.

State Championships will be the goal for many athletes over the next few weeks with the Sydney & Melbourne Track Classics in early March being the next big domestic meets.

Some athletes may skip these though as they nead overseas to compete in the World Indoor Championships in Serbia. Though we don't have an indoor track downunder, we have a few medal chances especially our US-based middle distance runners who have plenty of experience running on the boards.

 

[AdelaideGT]

High Jumper Eleanor Patterson set an Oceanian indoor HJ record of 1.99m yesterday. This was her first ever indoor competition and she equalled her outdoor personal best.

An indication that she will be a medal chance at the World Indoor Championships in a few weeks time. Australia's other star High Jumpers, Nicola McDermott & Brandon Starc commence their 2022 seasons at the NSW Champs in Sydney this weekend. Both have already qualified for the World Indoors, but haven't yet confirmed if they will be going to Belgrade.

Pole Vaulter Kurtis Marschall is one who's targeting the World Indoors and he will compete in France later this week.

Rohan Browning is also apparently keen to compete and he will have his eye on Matt Shirvington's long-standing Australian Indoor Record over 60m.

 

[AdelaideGT]

Kurt Marschall cleared 5.71m in Lievin today for 6th. He's probably a bit rusty as he hasn't competed indoors since before covid and hopefully can approach his indoor PB of 5.87m with another competition or two.

High Jumper Eleanor Patterson has another indoor comp in Britain this weekend and she'll be joined by 800m champ Trina Bisset who will learn about tactical and rough racing indoors. She'll be chasing the World Indoor qualifier if she can have a reasonable race. The indoor time is more achievable than trying to reach the outdoor (1-58.00) standard downunder right now.

In domestic competition this weekend sees the NSW & SA Championships.

There are a number of interstaters entered in both Champs. NSW will see the likes of Jack Hale & Hana Basic, while Aiden Murphy will have some extra sprint rivals in Adelaide with Michael Romanin and Will Johns entered in the 100m and/or 200m.

Aidan is down to compete in 100/200 & 400m (like his sister Melarn who is returning to the sport) but it sounded last week as if he didn't want to run any more of them as he vomits after just about every full-on run.

In Queensland, top sprinters Ella Connolly, Riley Day and Bree Masters continue their rivalry from Adelaide last week in the 100m while young Torrie Lewis may be looking for a new 200m PB as she is not entered in the 100.

Hopefully good conditions for those competing.

 

[AdelaideGT]

Did you end up going to the Adelaide meet RussellEbertHandball ? I was looking forward to your comments if you did.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Did you end up going to the Adelaide meet RussellEbertHandball ? I was looking forward to your comments if you did.

No I couldn't get out of my commitment.

But I watched both the men's and women's 100m and 200m, and men's 800m on my phone on Saturday night on AA's You Tube channel.

Murphy looks like a 200m runner to me. Has good pace but don't know how much faster he can get in the 100m. He has to get a bit smoother over 100m. Looks like he likes the wind up of 200m.

Browning looked a class above everyone else in the 100m.

But I was pissed off they ran it in the back straight the opposite direction to run with a tail wind. It was only +0.9m for the men's 100m so unless it was a 5m gale at the start of the event I can't see why they changed from the usual start line.

I was impressed with Ella Connelly more than Riley Day. More her stride pattern than the result.

Bol cruised for victory. I hope he gets a couple of guys who regularly push him on the Oz circuit and nationals rather than just do enough to win.

 

[AdelaideGT]

But I was pissed off they ran it in the back straight the opposite direction to run with a tail wind. It was only +0.9m for the men's 100m so unless it was a 5m gale at the start of the event I can't see why they changed from the usual start line.

The first of the sprints (women's B race) actually ran into a headwind in the back straight so I was a bit concerned, but then Mother Nature smiled a bit for the other 100s.

At least they were willing to change it - in most of the State Championships this weekend, they all seem to be running into stiff breezes.

With regard to Bol, I would like to see his training partner and former record-holder Joseph Deng back in action - he's been missing for over a year now though I thihk there was a video on Twitter of him training yesterday. At least Bol is willing to push the pace when competing downunder - he did run the tough Olympic qualifier by himself last year.