Rubie's return a boost for the 4x400m relay

Published Mon 30 Dec 2019

30 Dec 2019

Rubie's return a boost for the 4x400m relay

As we near to start of 2020 our sporting focus will naturally turn towards the Tokyo Olympics and one key athlete for Australia, who has been missing in 2019, Annelise Rubie-Renshaw is making her return after a major toe injury early in the year. She will be a welcome return to the 4x400m squad which continues to grow in depth following her pioneering work in the event in 2015.

“I’m 90% recovered that is why I’m easing my way back into racing and to see how it is,” said Rubie-Renshaw after she had run at the Athletics NSW club championships in December.

“In terms of training I’m pretty much back, but I’m still having to manage my load.”

The injury which occurred in late March, leading into the national championships, was to the joint in her big toe and required surgery.

“It was a pretty full on injury for such a small part of my body, so I’m trying to avoid that happening again. It was such a frustrating injury and has been a long recovery.

“I haven’t had to sit out due to injuries, so it was very frustrating as I wasn’t even training at the time as I couldn’t run for four months and that was while athletes were running at nationals and World Relays.”

But Rubie-Renshaw, has taken a big positive from the setback.

“It put things into perspective, especially watching nationals and World Relays knowing how many times I have run those events. So next time (I run at these meet) I won’t take them for granted.”

Women’s 4x400m Relay depth

The developing depth in Australian women’s 400m sprinting now provides us potentially a powerful 4x400m team in Tokyo. It is heading towards to record levels around the Sydney Olympics when we had eight sub 52.0 athletes (Cathy Freeman, Lee Naylor, Tamsyn Lewis, Nova Peris, Melinda Gainsford-Taylor, Jana Pittman, Susan Andrews Tania Van-Heer) yielding the national record.

In 2019, seven athletes were quicker than 52.8 (Bendere Oboya, Bella O’Grady, Ellie Beer, Lauren Boden, Anneliese Rubie-Renshaw, Angeline Blackburn and Caitlin Jones) and that didn’t include Ella Connolly (4^th 2018 World U20s), Rebecca Bennett (2019 World Champs relay), Jessica Thornton (52.05 PB), Carley Thomas (51.4 split World U20s), Morgan Mitchell (now focusing on 800s) and the 400m hurdlers – Sarah Carli & Sara Klein. There is youth in the team and potential growth with Oboya, Beer, Connolly, Bennett and Thomas still teenagers.

The steady growth since 2015, has been spearheaded by Anneliese Rubie-Renshaw. In 2015 at the Beijing World Championships, she dipped under 52 seconds in the 400m, the first time an Aussie had been under 52 for five years - since Tamsyn Lewis and Jana Pittman. Following Rubie-Renshaw quickly under that barrier was Morgan Mitchell in 2016, while Caitlin Jones and Jessica Thornton also posted quick times. At the Rio Olympics, the four combined in the 4x400m relay to clock our sixth fastest time in history of 3:25.71 and place a brilliant eighth in the final. (Lauren Boden and Monica Brennan were relay reserves).

In 2016, the fifth fastest Aussie was 53.14, but the statistics below show how the depth has increased, no doubt inspired by the relay team of Rio, to now with seven under 52.8 seconds in 2019.

YEAR AUSTRALIAN RANKINGS 1ST/3RD/5TH

2009 51.42/52.93/53.52

2010 52.20/52.78/53.43

2011 52.15/52.98/53.09

2012 52.68/52.77/53.20

2013 52.16/53.70/54.35

2014 52.22/52.50/53.35

2015 51.69/53.01/53.42

2016 51.25/52.05/53.14

2017 51.65/52.69/52.97

2018 51.51/52.38/52.78

2019 51.21/52.53/52.57 (7 under 52.8)