Diamond wins third State Decathlon title

Published Mon 17 Jan 2022

16 January 2022

Diamond wins third State Decathlon title

The 2022 NSW Combined Events Championships will certainly be remembered as eventful and challenging competition, but hey that pretty much describes the World in the last two years. For leading NSW allrounders, Alec Diamond, Samuel Taylor and Tori West there were some positive signs ahead of an unusual year which includes a World Championships and Commonwealth Games.

DECATHLON - open

The event got off to a flyer, with new NSW decathlon record holder Alec Diamond (UTN) in record form. In the 100m he clocked 10.97, just 0.03 outside his PB, in the long jump he leapt 7.71m, just 3cm below his PB, and in the shot he put the 7.2kg implement out to 14.14m, just a metre short of his best.

“I was really happy through three events as I was ahead of my PB,” Diamond said.

Defending champion, Newcastle’s Sam Taylor, was on fire too. He easily exceeded his first four events compared to last year - 100m 10.65 (11.08), long jump 7.40m (6.95), shot 11.97m (11.22m) and high jump 1.89m (1.82m).

Event four, the high jump, was running overtime due to previously late running events, then an athlete hit the up right, causing a further delay. Taylor had finished his high jump competition, but Diamond was just getting going and went on to clear 1.95m. Then suddenly the lights were switched off at the track. Being a suburban venue, lighting must cease by 9.30pm in the ACT. Diamond seemed to be capable of clearing his PB 2.01m, but elected to finish his event at 1.95m. However the under-18, 20 and open decathletes would not be able to complete their required 400m that evening. Athletics Australia clarified the rule that day one must be completed within 24 hours, which would enable the athletes to run their 400m at the start of day two – where they would face the challenge of six events.

On day two many athletes elected to either not finish or jog the 400m. Diamond choose the former, while Samuel Taylor had a strong run of 52.58. just outside his 2021 time. Taylor’s momentum continued, running a half second quicker in the 110m hurdles (15.76) and throwing four metres better in the discus. Diamond was also progressing well, running a very quick hurdles of 14.61.

Event seven, the pole vault, was looking good for Sam Taylor clearing 3.60m, but at 3.70m he snapped a pole, falling into the vaulting box between the bags. His competition was over with him going to Canberra hospital before his coach drove him back to Newcastle. Diamond was the last to start competing in the vault, going on to equal his PB of 4.80m. He would then throw a casual 42 metres in the javelin ahead of not finishing in the 1500m. He tallied a score of 6206, sufficient to win by 500 points and claim his third NSW title.

Diamond reflected on the competition.

“In the high jump I had to stop early with the lights and who knows what I could have done. Then the hurdles was half a second faster than when I scored 8000. I then leapt an equal PB in the pole vault. But the competition seemed like ‘Murphy’s Law’. The scheduling didn’t fall right, but it was a really good building block toward nationals.”

In second place, Tom Galvin (SYU) scored 5723 points, improving on his silver medal winning effort last year by 82 points. In third Hills club athlete Andrew Pedrana was third scoring 5128 points.

HEPTATHLON – open

Former Queenslander Tori West (MIN) was a comfortable winner of the heptathlon scoring 5582 points - the highest winning score for three years. Winner of the last two titles, Chloe Davis UTN) sailed home in the last event to move from third to second as she passed Amie Bowrey (MIN) and scored 4357 points – superior to her last two title winning tallies. Bowrey scored 4246 points in taking the bronze.

For Tori West, the leading Australian heptathlete in the last decade, it was just a matter of getting back to the track.

“I just took a very conservative approach,” she said. “I just wanted to finish and get a score on the table.

“I cracked my navicular last year, I have new coaches and I’ve only been back properly in training for 10 weeks, so a lot to adjust and we’re obviously not there yet. It will come.”

Although West didn’t set any PBs, all seven events were not far from her lifetime best. The 100m hurdles was an example, clocking 14.18, just outside her PB of 13.91. Other events to shine were high jump 1.71m, shot 12.81m and javelin 47.72m.

ACT Officials

The ACT Officials worked tirelessly throughout the two days in warm conditions to run a successful event. About 85% of entries were from NSW in the men’s and women’s Combined Event Championships which were conducted alongside a full program of individual events.