2024 Australian Champs: Day 4 Review

15 April 2024

2024 Australian Champs: Day 4 Review

SUNDAY: The Australian Championships and Olympic trials finished on a high on Sunday for NSW athletes with six title won in the final two hours.

LUKE BOYES AMAZING

The regular progression this summer from Luke Boyes has been nothing short of amazing. The 2022 World U20 Championships semi-finalist has gone from 1:46.69 to 1:44.73. He has moved from number 44 Australian all-time to number 7, in winning the Australian title and claiming his second defeat over Tokyo Olympic finalists Peter Bol.

Frustratingly Luke missed the Olympic standards by just 0.03 seconds.

“I honestly never expected to go to Paris, so now that I’m this close I’ll be gutted if I don’t get picked,” Luke said.

“My goal was to end up in the quota, and if I’m there and not picked that would be a testament to how strong a team we would be sending.

“I have to keep training and hang tight. It’s a better step forward than what I was expecting.”

As his progression this summer has been a surprise he had not planned the next step.

“I was thinking about it (racing in Europe). I’ve not been before, and I’ve never travelled internationally on my own. I was going to see how this weekend went, I didn’t think I was going to get the qualifier. I was going to hang back until Oceania (championships) and then go for two weeks after that. I only need 0.03 now, so things might change. It’ll be a good party tonight, a bit of uni to catch up on and then after that we’ll sit down and plan the next couple of weeks.”

HIGH JUMPERS WORLD CLASS

In the best form of her career, Nicola Olyslagers won her fifth consecutive National high jump title with a championship record height of 2.01m. This year she has compiled four wins from as many starts, equalling her National record in Canberra and winning the World Indoor title. After her win today she spoke about not feeling great going into today’s competition after a heavy training block.

Eleanor Patterson rebounded from her indifferent form this year, which saw her withdraw from the World indoors, clearing an excellent 1.95m. She has an incredible championship record with four medals from four events in the last few years and looks on track to add to her achievements in Paris.

LOVELL PROGRESSES TOWARDS PARALYMPICS

Teenager, Mali Lovell closed her domestic season with a second significant personal best in the T36 200m heats as she progressed towards certain Paralympic Games selection. Mali, who won silver at the 2023 World Para-Athletics Championships has set two PBs in the last month. In Adelaide she broke the 30 seconds barrier for the first occasion, clocking 29.67 seconds in the heats. The time lowered her own Australian record.

HUNT DOUBLE

There was a unique double in the men’s 400m hurdle events with Hunt brothers Tom and Matt winning the open and U20 titles.

Tom, who has been the form Australia athlete all season delivered a win in 50.81, outside of his season’s best of 50.33. He crossed the line behind Taiwan’s Chieh Chen who ran 50.66.

Matthew won the under-20 title by nearly two seconds in a fantastic time of 51.59 seconds – the fastest winning time for 26-years. He also booked his place in the Australian team for the world juniors in Peru in August.

Other significant wins/performances

• Cameron McEntyre won a close battle in the javelin with a throw of 76.10m. It was the third javelin throw win at the championships for his coach and brother Angus McEntyre.
• In his first race in Australian in six years, Morgan McDonald was just pipped on the line in the men’s 5000m. In a very strong field, McDonald clocked 13:39.66, with Matt Ramsden taking the win in 13:39.51.
• Favorite ‘on paper’, Renee Hardy delivered a win in the women’s hammer throw with a distance of 57.09m.
• 400m hurdler Sarah Carli has closed her domestic season with the second fastest time of her career, clocking 54.96 seconds, just 0.11 seconds outside of the Olympic standard.
• Newcastle’s Rose Davies sprinted away from the 5000m field to take the title by nearly three seconds in 15:21.62.

David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW

Image: Luke Boyes leads the 800m field (image courtesy of David Tarbotton)