Australian Track and Field Champs Day 5: Diamond shines as Little throws big

Published Sat 17 Apr 2021

16 April 2021

Australian Track and Field Champs Day 5: Diamond shines as Little throws big

On day five of the Australian Track and Field Championships we witnessed the highest standard decathlon in Australian championship history, with NSW’s Alec Diamond featuring, while in the field, Rosemary Little added a vital 2cm to PB to enhance her Tokyo prospects.

All summer Rosemary Little (HIL) has been peppering the six-metre barrier in the F32 secured shot put, hitting a best of 6.10m at the Sydney Track Classic. She recorded numerous B qualifiers for the Tokyo Paralympics, but the A standard of 6.11 metres had eluded her, that was until today where she recorded a small but significant 2cm PB, and nailed the Paralympic Games A standard.

While Queenslanders Ash Moloney and Cedric Dubler continuing their trail blazing decathlon form, NSW’s Alec Diamond was setting his own new standards, recording a 71 points PB score of 7746 points, as he moved from number 22 to number 15 Australian all-time and won the bronze medal.

“My day one I was really happy with, then I don’t know if it was a bit of fatigue, but I didn’t quite have the day two I was looking for,” said Diamond.

“Being a diabetic, my blood sugars were not playing in my favour, so that could have had an effect.”

He got off to a flying start with 10.94 in the 100m, 7.69m in the long jump and then 15.32m in the shot.

“I was really happy with the first three events, the 100m was an overall PB, long jump was a decathlon PB and shot put was the first time over 15 metres and I threw over it twice. I had the breakthrough in the shot I had been looking for, for a while.”

His preparation has not been ideal, as he missed six weeks training after competing in December in the Queensland State decathlon in Brisbane. He had torn his plantar fascia just prior to the competition.

“So I was surprised I could come out here and set a PB,” he said.

The life of a decathlete is hectic. Diamond trains six times per week with most sessions about four hours and includes 2-3 gym sessions per week. The near graduated Sports Science student has one of his goals for 2021 removed due to the postponement of the World University Games. He will push his Olympic hopes in June in a decathlon in Townsville, but his 2022 goals have shifted after this week’s effort.

“I’m age eligible for the 2022 World Unis, but that event now slips down on the priority list as the Commonwealth Games is the realist one, and world champs is not out of the question.”

There was an interesting result in the open men’s long jump qualifiers where the leading athlete in pool A was Newcastle junior Liam Fairweather. Earlier in the week he placed second in the under-20 event with a PB leap of 7.44m, as he closed in on the World U20 Champs standard of 7.58m. But today he leapt another PB, going out to 7.56m, just 2cm short of becoming the first Australian junior to hit the standard.

Other NSW athletes crown national champions on day 5:

-Cooper Robb-Jackson U15 para 100m 15.91

-Sammy Muamba U20 para 100m 12.38

-India Cooper U17 para 100m 14.57

- Brianna Worsfold U17 shot put 14.66m

-Lucia Bruce-Gilchrist U20 para 100m 20.47

-Ethan Moos open wheelchair 1500m 4:27.21

- Sienna Bond U17 long jump 5.91m

-Oliver Garrett U17 100m 10.99