National Mile Championships - Men's Preview
Published Fri 02 Dec 2022
MEN’S NATIONAL MILE CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW - ALBIE THOMAS MILE
Whilst the top-5 from a highly entertaining NSW 3000m Championships return to go head-to-head again at tomorrow’s National Mile Championships, it’s safe to say that many eyes will be focussed on the second-fastest half-miler Australia has ever produced this Saturday evening at The Crest.
Joseph Deng (VIC, Justin Rinaldi) has had injuries set him back since his incredible rise to the National 800m Record in 2018 (1:44.21), and shelving racing at times to regularly pace his teammate and Australian sporting sensation, Peter Bol, to his meteoric rise in Tokyo and beyond. However, towards the back end of the European 2022 Season, we started to see glimpses of the athlete who took the Australian athletics community by storm in four years ago, just days after he turned 20 years old.
Whilst much of the focus has been on Bol, this may signal the start of Deng’s domestic return, with his last 800m World Championship Qualifying-performance of 1:44.69 in June this year (Meeting de Paris) a leap in exactly that direction. Of course this early in the season, form guides haven’t got much of a foundation, but the anticipation is there for the Victorian to light up The Crest over double his favoured distance tomorrow night.
Featuring on Deng’s shoulder will be the fresh sensation of 16-year-old Cameron Myers (NSW, Lee Bobbin) who shocked the field with a stunning sprint to win the NSW 3000m Championship race five weeks ago at ES Marks (at the time registered interstate, now registered with NSW). Effortlessly shifting to another level with 300 metres remaining, Myers may be a real handful if he finds himself with fresh air in front of him late in the race. And there’s a slight possibility that if he goes well under his PB of 4:07 for the mile (dare we mention sub-4?) that there’s going to be some very, very special record books being pulled out - Jakob Ingebrigtsen is currently the youngest sub-4 miler in world history, at 16 years, 10 months. Cameron is 16 years, 5 months.
Joining his Bankstown teammate in attempting to secure a hometown National Championship will the be reigning NSW 3000m Champion, Adam Pyke (NSW, Martin Pyke). Also very impressive in his ability to push past a very talented field over seven-and-a-half laps, Pyke now drops down to his favoured distance of four laps (1500m PB of 3:40.02 the quickest in the field).
William Lewis (VIC, Steve Fabris) will also fancy his chances after an overall bronze and a fine performance in the 3000m State Champs. The field will need to be very wary of the Victorian, as he comes into the race off the back of an excellent European season this year, with a pair of 3:41 1500m performances on his profile. Lewis will look to take his 4:02.20 Mile PB down a digit with a lot of speed at the front of the race from the 800m specialists, and will try to go one or two better than a few weeks ago.
The Sydney University-based duo of Joe Burgess (NSW, Shaun Creighton – 4th at NSW 3000m Champs) and Connor Whiteley (NSW, Dani Andres – 5th at NSW 3000m Champs) will also look to ruffle the feathers to get a National medal around their neck at the end of four laps, whilst squadmates Jye Perrott (NSW, Ben Liddy) and Lachlan Raper (NSW, Ben Liddy) will look to work together to try and run the legs off the rest of the field.
Can Deng get the job done? Will Cam write himself into unparalleled history? Or will it be another victory for the home club on home soil, like Rorey Hunter and Jordan Gusman before them?
A mesmerising Men’s National Championship Mile is ahead of us tomorrow at 9:00pm, with the Live Stream coverage of the main program kicking off at 7:00pm with all B Races, A Races and National Championship Mile races via:
Athletics NSW Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/AthleticsNSW/
Athletics Australia Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/AthleticsAustralia/
Written by James Constantine, Athletics NSW.
Any media enquiries can be directed to James Constantine – jamesconstantine@nswathletics.org.au.
Cover Photo courtesy of David Tarbotton (from 2022 NSW 3000m Championships)
