Australian Championships Preview: Para Commonwealth Games selection opportunity

Published Thu 24 Mar 2022

24 March 2022

Australian Championships Preview: Para Commonwealth Games selection opportunity

With less than one month until the final selections, eight NSW Para-athletes are in contention for selection in the Australian team for the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. The Australian Championships will provide a key opportunity to press their claims for selection.

The eight NSW athletes, Christie Dawes, Julie Charlton, Sarah Clifton-Bligh, Evan O’Hanlon, Rosemary Little, Indi Cooper, Erin Cleaver and Lynda Holt all have different qualifying prospects.

Commonwealth Games Australia will send a team of 68 Able Body athletes plus Commonwealth Games Federation invited athletes in 12 Para events. The 12 Para events will comprise fields of eight athletes. Seven of those positions are determined by Commonwealth rankings which close on 18 April 2022. Many of our NSW athletes are either in the top-7 or just outside and have less than one month to strengthen their selection prospects by improving their ranking.

Tokyo Paralympian, Evan O’Hanlon (UTN) headlines the NSW prospects. The T37 athletes is ranked number two in the 100m with his 11.00 second run in Tokyo. Only British athlete Thomas Young is ahead of him. Evan will be hoping to defend his title in Birmingham that he won on the Gold Coast in 2018.

Seven-time Paralympian, Christie Dawes has a strong chance of an invitation for the T54 1500m and marathon events. Currently ranked five and four, respectively in her two events, she is short odds to go to her third Commonwealth Games.

Cherrybrook’s Julie Charlton sits in seventh in the F57 shot put. Her best distance of 6.43m is just 9cm clear of Indian, Keram Jyoli who has a mark of 6.34m. Also in the mix is Lynda Holt (ASW), in nineth with a best of 5.97m.

NSW has two prospects in the T34 100m, with Sarah Clifton-Bligh (SYU) ranked fifth and Rosemary Little (HDA) seventh. Their danger is eight ranked Olivia Gallagher from the UK. She has clocked 25.73, while Sarah has a best time of 23.26 and Rosemary 24.72.

NSW also has two prospects in the T38 100m, the only problem is they are vying for one position. Australia has two high ranked athletes, WA pair Rhiannon Clarke and Ella Pardy in third and fourth and a maximum of three athletes can be invited from one country. Ranked in eighth and nineth are NSW pair Indi Cooper (KOO) and Ern Cleaver (MHA). They need to move into the top-7, which is a time of 13.85 seconds. Indi has been running well all summer and her best time of 14.29 was achieved into a strong 2.0m/s headwind, highlighting her chances of moving her PB and ranking. Erin Cleaver, who competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, is also moving forward. Her best time of 14.56 was achieved just weeks ago and she is on the improve.