Day 7 - Three Through to the final

Oliver Hoare (Dathan Ritzenhein) saluted in his semi-final of the men’s 1500m, with his time of 3:34.35 surpassing Herb Elliot’s mark of 3:35.6 as the fastest time in history by an Australian man at an Olympic Games.

Hoare was the fourth man to cross the line in the race, with the first five to automatically progress to Saturday night’s Olympic final. The 24-year-old says there is room for improvement in two days’ time, with his ability to close out the race in the home straight suggesting he had more to give.

“Tactically I didn’t run that race very well, I got caught behind and had to be patient and not panic. I was really happy with my last 100-metres,” he said.

Hoare is relishing the experience of his first Australian team, with this Olympic berth earning him his first Australian tracksuit – junior or senior.

“Expectations are high. We’ve had a terrific track and field performance so far, and I’ve been inspired be Peter [Bol], Linden [Hall], Jess [Hull] and Patrick [Tiernan]. Having those good people around, building a culture, it’s been really important,” he said.

Nicola McDermott (Matt Horsnell) and Eleanor Patterson (Alex Stewart) both looked sublime on their way to securing automatic qualifiers for the women's high jump final, both clearing 1.95m to progress to Saturday night's final. 

McDermott did not record a blemish during qualifying, whilst Patterson's only miss came at her first attempt at 1.95m. The pair are the two greatest women in Australian high jump history wiht personal bests of 2.01m and 1.99m respectively, making them major contendors in the Olympic final and a chance to feature in the medals. 

Patterson has been improving at a rate of knots as her season progresses, whilst McDermott has remained on cloud nine ever since becoming the first Australian woman to clear 2.00m at the Australian Track and Field Championships in April.

It was a tough night for the Australian quartet of Bendere Oboya (John Quinn), Kendra Hubbard (John Nicolosi), Ellie Beer (Brett Robinson) and Anneliese Rubie-Rensahaw (Peter Fortune) in the first round of the women’s 4x400m relay, registering a time of 3:30.61 to finish in seventh place of their heat.

The team were in good spirits post-race, excited to have raced on the Olympic stage and acknowledging squad member Angeline Blackburn (Adrian Faccioni).

FRIDAY 6th AUGUST

Night Session

5:30pm: Women’s 20km Race Walk - Jemima Montag, Katie Hayward, Rebecca Henderson

9:50pm: Women’s Javelin Final - Kelsey-Lee Barber, Kathryn Mitchell, Mackenzie Little

10:50pm: Women’s 1500m Final - Jessica Hull, Linden Hall

The following article is adapted from Lachlan Moorehouse & Athletics Australia's "Decathlon Duo Delivers | Day Seven Review"
For the full article, see the AA article here