NSW Combined Events: Piper Todd’s third consecutive as Alec Diamond wins number four

16 January 2023

NSW Combined Events: Piper Todd’s third consecutive as Alec Diamond wins number four

Commonwealth Games representative Alec Diamond claimed his fourth senior men’s NSW Decathlon title in Canberra on the weekend with a solid score of 7458 points. Although there were no PBs, there were some very solid marks including 14.73m in the shot – the second longest of his career and 14.95 in the 110m hurdles. Four performances were superior to his Commonwealth Games decathlon, a competition for which he received a very late call up.

His fourth win, which goes alongside his 2022, 2017 and 2018 titles, makes him the equal third most successful in the history of the event behind Matthew Harris (6 wins), Peter Hadfield (5 wins) and equal with Geoff Goodacre (4 wins).

Bankstown’s Piper Todd, in the under-16s continues to impress with her third win in as many years. In 2021 she claimed the U14 Pentathlon, then last year the U16 Heptathlon and this year defended that title.

In winning her 2023 title on the weekend she improved in five events and remained steady in two others. She has made big progress in the hurdles - half a second improvement, high jump – 5cm, shot put – a metre, and long jump - 25cm. She scored a PB tally of 4480 points. She received tremendous competition from Catherine Mikan who scored 4289 points and actually led Piper at the end of day one. Catherine had a brilliant hurdle of 13.61, high jump 1.57m. On day two she extended her lead with a great long jump of 4.94m. Piper got the measure of Catherine in one key event, the javelin, before Catherine just held off Piper in the 800m. A strong performance by Reki Roberts in third with a score of 4077 points, highlighted by a 5.25m long jump.

The girls under-18 heptathlon was a tremendous competition with 12 NSW athletes and one from ACT competing. Most of the athletes were only 15 and had just graduated form the under-16s last year. Third last year in the U16s, Lily Stewart, led overnight after a good day one. Maia Madden Khan was third overnight courtesy of two high quality performances 25.37 in the 200m and a 13.46m shot. Just 10 points ahead of Maia was last year’s second placegetter in the U16s, Jaide Almeida, who was ahead in all four events compared to 2022.

Jaide and Maia swapped the lead on day two from the first event, the long jump. Maia leapt 5.49m, while Jaide cleared 5.19m. Then Jaide launched the javelin out to 30.13m, ahead of Maia’s 26.28m. With just the 800m to finish the competition Maia led Jaide by two points 3858 to 3756. Maia was in heat one and clocked 2:38.70. Surely this was beyond Jaide who ran 2:50.96 last year. But a gutsy run by Jaide brought her home in 2:36.95 to take the title by just 18 points – with a total of 4364 points. Maia scored 4346 and Lily Stewart 4172.

In the under-16 boys, despite being injured, Trinity star Jozef Cluff still managed to claim the title with a score of 2498 points, ahead of Samuel Price with 2356 points. Jozef hit an amazing 16.30m in the shot on day one.

North Coast’s Hanna Tait graduated from the junior ranks to take the NSW open Heptathlon title with a score of 4507 points. On limited training, good performances for her were high jump 1.65m and 200m 25.65. A close second was Campbelltown’s Louise Cranston scoring a PB tally of 4436 points. Of note was her 5.48m long jump, 15.16 hurdles and 2:28.10 800m. Third place getter last year, Amie Bowrey was progressing well with five performances superior to her first six from 2022, including a 42.09m javelin, but she succumb to an injury and didn’t start in the 800m.

A complete list of NSW Combined event champions are:

MEN

Open Decathlon – Alec Diamond UTN 7458

U20 Decathlon – Robbie Cullen CHE 5635

U18 Decathlon – Kurt Rutter TAM 5495

U16 Heptathlon – Jozef Cluff TRI 3485

U14 Pentathlon – Blake Billingsley CHE 1016

Masters 45-49 Pentathlon – Stuart Tait GRA 1695

Masters 50-54 Pentathlon – EJ Davie SSR 430

Masters 60-64 Pentathlon – Zoran Novicic UTN 835

Masters 50-54 Decathlon – Andrew Watson BAL 3120

WOMEN

Open Heptathlon – Hanna Tait GRA 4507

U20 Heptathlon – Lily Tilt HIL 4128

U18 Heptathlon – Jaide Almeida UTN 4364

U16 Heptathlon – Piper Todd BAN 4480

Masters 30-34 Pentathlon – Sarah Whatley ILL 2322

Masters 45-49 Pentathlon – Ingrid Harris ILL 512

Masters 45-49 Heptathlon – Nicki Drinkwater UTN 3276

Masters 50-54 Pentathlon – Richelle Ingram MIG 1321

Masters 60-64 Pentathlon – Susan Whatley ILL 898

A big thank you to ACT Athletics who hosted the event for Athletics NSW on a massive weekend which included Masters and Little Athletics Combined event, along with a full program of individual events.

David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW

Image: Piper Todd in the U16 heptathlon (image courtesy of David Tarbotton)