Australian Championships Day 1: 11 gold on opening day

26 March 2022

Australian Championships Day 1: 11 gold on opening day

The rain largely held off as NSW stormed to 11 National titles on day one of the 2022 Chemist Warehouse Australian Track and Field Championships being held this week at Homebush. NSW won medals across the spectrum of events.

Daniel Williams from 15th to gold in one year

The story of Nambucca Heads distance runner Daniel Williams just gets better at every meet this summer. He emerged at the NSW All Schools and then continued his progression at the NSW Junior Championships, but after placing 15th in his national 1500m last year, who could have predicted he would win gold today. Extortionary stuff.

“It’s my first Australian title,” said an ecstatic Daniel. “Crossing the line I felt unbelievable. Last year to come 15th in this exact race to now, I’m just so stocked.”

What does he credit his progress too?

“I think obviously a lot more training, but I think the attitude towards racing too. When athletes tried to pull away I wouldn’t stick but now I’ve got that fight in me that really helps out.”

But with a lap, and even 100m to go, it looked like Daniel might just make it on to the podium. Be he had higher goals.

“With 400m to go the two boys kicked and I thought I was done, but with 150m I saw a silver lining and I wanted that gold so bad. At 30m I thought I can get this one and I gave it everything I could and got the gold.”

Daniel clocked 4:02.70 for the title, with WA’s Jonah Hanikeri second in 4:03.20 and Luke Palmer third with 4:04.69.

New National form for shot putter Alexander Shahla and hammer thrower Mollie Blackman

At the NSW Under-16 Hammer Throw Championships Illawong’s Brooke Williams won, with Mudgee’s Mollie Blackman in fifth with a best throw of 36.74m, below her PB of 41.51m. On that occasion Mollie, experienced foul trouble. But under master hammer throwing coach Ernie Shankelton, Mollie improved her PB on every one of her four throws to go from fifth at the NSW championships to silver in Australia with a throw of 46.27m. In the end she even was pressing Brook Williams who won with a distance of 47.46m.

In the men’s under-20 NSW title, Jason Parmaxidis (CBT) nailed a big put of 17.14m on his last attempt to win by over a metre. On that day, in third, was Paramatta’s Alexander Shahla with 15.91m. But one month on, we saw another dramatic reversal of from. After languishing down the list mid-competition, Alexander exploded in round four nailing 17.16m, a distance he maintained to win gold.

Kaitlyn Coulter wins First gold for NSW

Bankstown’s Kaitlyn Coulter won NSW’s first gold at the championships when she took the Under-20 shot out title. She hit a PB distance of 13.57m, a 20cm PB. Such was her dominance, three of her putts would have been sufficient for gold. The year-12 student, was unfazed in the rain. Reminding us: “It has rained for a couple of weeks so I am used to it.“

A pair of 1-2s in the Walks as Zoe Woods and Grace Beck take titles

NSW dominated the under-16 girls 3000m walk with NSW going 1-2 and also taking fourth place. Zoe Woods (ASW) and Sienna Pitcher (MIN) waged a battle throughout the race as they finished over 40 second ahead of third, in times of 13:55.17 and 13:59.75 respectively. Lyla Williams (ASW) was fourth with 15:02.08.

In the under-15’s Grace Beck (ASW) won in 15:35.60, from Madeline Platt (ADM) in a big PB time of 15:52.36.

Hammer thrower Alex Goetz into new territory

Before the Nationals under-16 hammer thrower Alex Goetz had never surpassed 55m in his highly technical discipline, but extraordinarily he added five metres to his best to push his PB over 60 netres, to 60.87n, winning by over four metres.

3000m wins for Piper and Sienna

The 3000m wins by distance runners Piper Simpson (RBH) and Sienna Scahill (ASW) were achieved in very different fashions. Piper, in the under-16s, took on the challenge of some strong front running, building up a large gap on the field. She timed her finish perfectly to win by three seconds in 9:55.65.

“That was the hardest lap - I felt the pain,” said Piper, referring to her last lap where the field were making inroads into her sizable lead.

Sienna’s win in 9:45.14 was a little more tradition as she was part of a large pack for much of the event. Her time represented significant progress - a 12 seconds personal best.

Strong team effort in Relays

NSW won gold and twin silver medals from the three relays on the program on day one. The under-16 girls flew home for a win in 47.51, on the back of strong legs by State 100m champion Holly Rea (WOL) and 200m champion Grace Krause (TEM). The under-14 boys found a red hot Victorian team too much, but still claimed the silver medal in a time of 48.78. Speaking of red hot teams, the Queensland men’s 4x100m was easily the best ever assembled at these national junior championships and they confirmed that becoming the first team to dip under 40 seconds, breaking the meet record of 40.15 held by New Zealand. Queensland team which included four World U20 Champs qualifiers clocked 39.90, but NSW were also brilliant. The team of Jackson Rowe, Joseph Ayoade, Donovan Bradshaw and Connor Bond clocked 40.28, to equal the NSW State team record of 40.1 (hand timed) set in 1985 37 years ago.

In Brief

Dylan Hall won the under-16 boys 100m in 11.03, with hurdler Billy Blair third with 11.14. There was a win from behind for Philippa Quarrell in the under-14 girls 1500m in a time of 4:37.43. Kurt Michael was locked in a terrific battle in the under-16 boys high jump which required a jump off for gold against Victorian Liam Shadbolt. In the extra jump, Kurt cleared 1.95m, but couldn’t negotiate 1.97m.

David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW

Image: Shot Putter Alexander Shahla (image courtesy of Fred Etter)

Other images: Fred Etter and David Tarbotton