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Bird-Smith flies into fifth on stellar day for the Spark
Queensland race walker Dane
Bird-Smith has smashed his personal best time by almost
two minutes to place fifth in the 10,000m walk at the 13th IAAF
world junior championships in Moncton, Canada, on a blistering
morning of track and field for the Australian Spark.
A top-eight finish, three new personal bests and seven athletes
advancing through the qualifying rounds highlighted the action on
day five at Stade Moncton, where clear blue skies greeted athletes
following yesterday’s downpour.
On a bumper session for the Australian team Bird-Smith’s fifth
placing in the 10,000m walk capped a long list of highlights, the
18-year-old Queenslander joined in the action by fellow race walker
Rhydian Cowley, Julian Wruck
(discus throw), Amanda Bartrim (pole vault),
Sam Baines (110m hurdles), Mitchell
Tysoe (110m hurdes), Emily Crutcher (high
jump), Amy Pejkovic (high jump), Kuey
Diew (800m) and Adrian Plummer
(800m).
Lining up in the only final on this morning’s program, Bird-Smith
turned on the race of his life to cross the line of the 10,000m
walk in 41:32.36, obliterating his previous career-low mark of
43:16.93 set in Sydney in March.
“It was just perfect, from the first couple of kilometres it was
spot-on time-wise and I was sitting in the lead pack the whole way
and even coming through 5km I took the lead for a bit and I just
felt good,” Bird-Smith said.
“I think it was in the last 2km my hamstrings started to pull up
tight on me but it was a perfect race. I would have thought 41:30
would win it, I was surprised they went 40:40 but for me to go
41:30 is almost a two-minute PB so I’m just stoked, I’m loving
this.”
Entering the meet in strong shape Bird-Smith was hopeful of going
under his previous career-best mark but surprised even himself with
today’s time.
“I was expecting about a 42:30 but to drop it down to 41:30, I’m
going nuts,” he said.
Following today’s scorching result, Bird-Smith said he was already
looking to bigger and better things as a senior athlete.
“In the next few years I’m going to step it up to the 20km event
and if I can get 41:30 that easily and that comfortably I reckon
hitting up an 85:00-minute 20km walk is a possibility and that puts
me straight into a B-qualifier,” he said.
In an impressive performance from start to
finish Bird-Smith stuck tight to the lead pack throughout the
25-lap race, moving through the halfway mark in 20:32 and holding
his form over the final kilometres to take out fifth place less
than a minute behind the winner’s world junior leading time of
40:43.17.
Fellow race walker Rhydian Cowley finished 17th in a time of
44:49.42 on a tough day at the office for the Victorian.
“It was a good experience racing against the others, I don’t like
it when I get lapped twice but that’s just going to be motivation
for me to work harder in the future and to make more teams and get
closer to the lead,” Cowley said.
“You’ve always got to try to find something to
take out of it even if you have a poor race. With my other
international races I was happy just to be out there and finish but
today provides me with the motivation to get really focused to
become a senior athlete.”
Cowley said he drew inspiration from teammate Bird-Smith’s race, a
proud moment for the Australian race walking community.
“It’s great for me to see that even if I didn’t have a great race
there was someone out there showing how good Australian race
walking is,” he said.
In other track action, 2009 world youth championships
representative Mitchell Tysoe clocked a new personal best time of
13.72 (w:-0.8) to take out his heat of the 110m hurdles and
automatically advance to tomorrow’s semi-finals.
Tysoe’s time shaves 0.23 seconds off the New
South Welshman’s previous best mark of 13.95 and sees him move
through to tomorrow’s semi-finals in the form of his life.
“That was a great race from the very start, I think I got out first
and it’s the best race I’ve ever had I think,” Tysoe said.
With the first of his world junior goals now crossed off the list,
Tysoe will be out for a fast time to progress through the
semi-finals.
“I was expecting the competition to be a lot harder, one of my
goals was just to get out of the heat and I’ve done that so I’m
very happy,” Tysoe said.
“It’s going to take a 13.5 or 13.6 to make the final I think and I
reckon I can do it, I’ve still got more in me.”
A semi-finalist at last year’s world youth championships in
Bressanone, Italy, Tysoe arrived in Moncton all set to better that
effort.
“I feel a bit more comfortable than last time, I know what’s going
on, I know what I’m expecting from the other competitors and I
think I’ll handle it a lot better than last year,” he said.
Joining Tysoe as an automatic starter in tomorrow’s 110m hurdles
semi-finals will be 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games gold medallist
and Spark co-captain Sam Baines, the Victorian taking out his heat
in a time of 13.88 (w:-2.2).
“It was good, I just wanted to race a good time and get through the
rounds,” Baines said.
“I hit a few hurdles that race so there’s a lot to improve on but I
just need to focus on the race and do what I need to do. There are
certainly some quick guys out there and I’ll need to be on my
A-game to compete.”
Adding his name to a growing list of personal best performances by
the Australian Spark across its three-week Canadian campaign,
Queenslander Adrian Plummer took 0.71 off his previous career-low
mark to clock 1:50.00 and move through to tomorrow’s two-lap
semi-finals.
Running out strong from the gun, Plummer held
down fourth position at the 200m-mark and followed a strung-out
field through the first lap in 52.72 before making a move up to
third position and staying with the two lead athletes as they
started to break away. Pushing for second with 100m to go, Plummer
charged up the home straight to cross the line in fourth place with
a new personal best on the board.
“1:50-flat and .01 off 1:49 is a bit annoying but it’s a PB so I
can’t really complain,” the 18-year-old said.
“I feel like I’m ready to run and just drop a bomb, run 1:48 or
something like that. I felt really good when the bell rang and I
felt like I was a bit ahead so I got out with about 100m to go and
started to kick in a bit and I was just pipped at the line.”
Plummer said his maiden appearance on the world stage was an
unforgettable experience.
“When I got out there I had butterflies in my stomach and it was just the greatest feeling and then at the end it was awesome, there were people asking for my autograph and it was a lot of fun,” he said.
Also advancing to tomorrow’s two-lap
semi-finals will be fellow Queenslander Kuey Diew, who made a late
charge from the back of the field to finish in third place and
automatically move through to the next round.
Sitting in a tight pack that moved through the first lap in 54.98,
the field started to string out past the 400m-mark with Diew
sitting in sixth place and needing to chase down the leaders.
Narrowing the gap with 100m to go Diew turned on the burners down
the front straight to sneak into third place and claim an automatic
berth in the next round.
“I was kind of getting worried because I was sitting back (in the
field) but I put belief in myself and I came home strong, they all
died in the end and I got through so I was pretty happy,” Diew
said.
“It was exactly what I expected, they all went out hard and the
last world juniors was a pretty similar time and I’d based my run
around that.
“In the next round I can’t go out slow like I did, because I’ve got
more speed I’m better off just going hard out with everyone else
and hopefully just hanging on and bringing it home.”
In the field, Commonwealth Games nominee Julian Wruck made short
work of the qualifying rounds of the men’s discus throw, clearing
the automatic mark with a throw of 59.87m on his opening
attempt.
The reigning Commonwealth Youth Games discus champion will enter
tomorrow’s deciding round as third-placed qualifier as he continues
his build-up to his senior international debut in New Delhi (IND)
in October.
“I’m pretty happy, everything went to to plan today and hopefully
it will all go to plan tomorrow,” Wruck said.
After a long-standing battle with nerves the Texan-based thrower
said the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games experience had all but
quashed his anxiety.
“Commonwealth Youth was good practice in front of a big crowd, I
used to get really nervous when I was young but now I’m good with
nerves and I don’t get nervous at all,” Wruck said.
After a 24-hour wait while yesterday’s wet
weather passed, Amanda Bartrim hit the pole vault runway high on
confidence today following her personal best leap of 4.00m in
Vancouver in the lead-up to the world junior meet.
The 19-year-old vaulter cleared 3.95m to advance to tomorrow’s
final, where she will be looking for a second personal best
performance on Canadian soil.
“I’m really excited, it was my goal today to make the final so I’m
really happy with that,” Bartrim said.
“I want to make a new PB in the final, at least 4.10m and hopefully
4.20m because I know I’m capable of that.”
In high jump action, 2009 world youth championships silver
medallist Amy Pejkovic cleared heights of 1.70m, 1.74m and 1.78m on
her first attempt before stalling at 1.81m, the New South
Wales-based jumper clinching her spot in the final thanks to her
strong start to the competition.
Also lining up in today’s qualifying rounds of the high jump was
the youngest member of the Australian team, Emily Crutcher.
Starting strongly with a first-up clearance of 1.65m, Crutcher was
unable to clear 1.70m and missed out on a place in the final, but
at just 15 years of age and with the 2011 world youth championships
and 2012 world junior championships still ahead of her, showed she
has a big future in the sport.
Today’s results take the Australian Spark’s tally to five top-eight
finishes at the 2010 world junior titles, Bird-Smith joining fellow
race walker Regan Lamble (eighth - 10,000m walk),
Patrick Fakiye (eighth - 100m), Kim
Mulhall (fourth - discus throw) and Brett
Robinson (eighth – 1500m) on the honour roll with three
sessions of competition remaining.
Tonight Rosie Lawson, Ella
Nelson, Karlie Morton and Caitlin
Sargent line up in the heats of the women’s 4x100m relay,
Patrick Fakiye, Tom Gamble, Jake
Hammond and Mathew Turk line up in the
heats of the men’s 4x100m relay and gun jumper Brooke
Stratton takes on the final of the women’s long jump in
another big night at Stade Moncton.
For all the action from day five at the world junior
championships, click
here.
Photo courtesy of Jodi Lambert
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