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Walkers and distance runners round out Delhi team
Australia’s distance runners and walkers round out the 66-strong athletics team lining up in New Delhi (IND) next month, with dual Olympic medallist Jared Tallent leading the charge in the 20km race walk at the XIX Commonwealth Games commencing this Sunday, October 3.
A national race walking champion across 20km and 50km, the AIS scholarship-holder has in the past year also improved his personal bests across both distances to 1:19:15 and 3:38:56 respectively. A bronze medallist in the 50km race walk at the IAAF Race Walking Cup in Chihuahua (MEX) in May, Tallent will be joined on the start line Chris Erickson and Luke Adams.
A silver medallist across 20km at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, Adams placed second at the Australian 20km race walking championships in Hobart to book his ticket to Delhi, with Erickson the third Australian across the line on the Apple Isle stopping the clock at 1:23:38, less than a minute off his personal best.
In the women’s event, Clare Tallent and Cheryl Webb will don the green and gold, the duo placing first (1:32:40) and second (1:33:28) respectively at the 20km national championship during March.
Also on the road, Lisa Weightman, Lisa Flint, Martin Dent, Michael Shelley and Jeff Hunt will compete in the marathon.
Flint is the 2008 and 2009 Australian marathon champion, with Weightman heading to Delhi on the back of a new personal best (2:28:48) at the Nagano (JPN) marathon during April.
Dent won the Australian cross country championships last month, followed across the line by bronze medallist Hunt. In April, Shelley placed 12th in a personal best time of 2:13:05 at a marathon event in Rotterdam (NED).
Meanwhile on the track, national champion Lachlan Renshaw will fly the Australian flag in the 800m, the 23-year-old securing his selection with his second Australian title in a time of 1:46.66 in April.
Joining him in Australia’s middle distance ranks are Mitch Kealey, Jeremy Roff and Kaila McKnight in the 1500m, and 5000m starters Ben St Lawrence and David McNeill with Collis Birmingham and Eloise Wellings featuring on start lists for both the 5000m and 10,000m.
The 1500m bronze medallist at the Australian
Athletics Championships during April, Roff secured two meet records
and two gold medals over 800m and 1500m at the Oceania Athletics
Championships in Cairns at the weekend.
Kealey and McKnight both started in the 1500m at the Continental
Cup in Split (CRO), the duo placing10th (3:41:51) and ninth
(4:27:40) respectively.
Taking home his first 5000m national crown in
Perth earlier this year, St Lawrence clocked the fifth fastest
3000m time in Australian history only weeks ago, stopping the clock
at 7:42.94 in Milan (ITA).
McNeill joined St Lawrence on the podium at the Australian
championships, winning bronze (14:00:08) before returning to his
American base to win the NCAA Division 1 Championships in a time of
13:44:81.
Lining up in the 5000m and 10,000m events,
Birmingham and Wellings are two of only three athletes competing in
more than one individual event on the sub-continent. A regular
fixture on the IAAF Diamond League circuit, Birmingham set a new
5000m personal best of 13:10.97 at the Eugene (USA) instalment of
the series in May before placing sixth in 14:00.60 at the IAAF
Continental Cup in September.
The winner of the Zatopek:10 and national title last December,
Wellings has most recently competed across 5000m at the New York
(USA) and Shanghai (CHN) instalments of the Diamond League placing
12th (15:23.16) and 11th (16:11.61) respectively.
Rounding out Australia’s middle distance starters are Richard Colman, Kurt Fearnley and Jake Lappin, who will all compete in the T54 1500m.
At the Australian championships in April Colman won five gold medals, the Victorian taking victory in the T53 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m. Fearnley is the national T54 1500m record-holder and in 2009 won six marathons from six starts, with Lappin most recently improving his personal bests in the T54 400m (49:51), 800m (1:41.04) and 1500m (3:11:05) in Arbon (SUI).
With the opening ceremony now just four days away, athletics.com.au has today launched its Commonwealth Games-dedicated home page.
Featuring athlete profiles, the eight-day event timetable and results, Commonwealth Games news, athlete interviews and galleries live from the stands in New Delhi, the website also encourages you to send your message of support the Australian team via the messageboard.
Stay tuned to athletics.com.au for Commonwealth Games updates as the 19th instalment of the Games fast approaches!
XIX Commonwealth Games
New Delhi (IND)
October 3 – 14, 2010
Men (41)
100m: Aaron Rouge-Serret
200m: Matt Davies
400m: Ben Offereins, Joel Milburn, Sean Wroe
800m: Lachlan Renshaw
1500m: Mitchell Kealey, Jeremy Roff
5000m: Ben St Lawrence, Collis Birmingham, David
McNeill
10,000m: Birmingham
Marathon: Martin Dent, Jeff Hunt, Michael
Shelley
3000m steeplechase: Youcef Abdi
400m hurdles: Brendan Cole
High jump: Liam Zamel-Paez
Pole vault: Steve Hooker
Long jump: Fabrice Lapierre, Chris Noffke
Shot put: Dale Stevenson
Discus throw: Benn Harradine, Julian Wruck
Hammer throw: Tim Driesen, Simon Wardhaugh
Javelin throw: Jarrod Bannister
20km walk: Luke Adams, Chris Erickson, Jared Tallent
T46 100m: Gabriel Cole, Heath Francis, Simon
Patmore
T54 1500m: Richard Colman, Kurt Fearnley, Jake
Lappin
F32/34/52 shot put: Damien Bowen, Hamish
MacDonald
4x100m relay: Davies, Jacob Groth, Patrick Johnson, Isaac
Ntiamoah, Rouge-Serret
4x400m relay: Cole, Milburn, Kevin Moore, Offereins, Sean
Wroe
Women (25)
100m: Melissa Breen
1500m: Kaila McKnight
5000m: Eloise Wellings
10,000m: Wellings
100m hurdles: Sally Pearson
400m hurdles: Lauren Boden
Marathon: Lisa Flint, Lisa Weightman
High jump: Ellen Pettitt
Pole vault: Amanda Bisk, Alana Boyd, Liz
Parnov
Shot put: Joanne Mirtschin
Hammer throw: Karyne Di Marco, Bronwyn Eagles, Gabrielle
Neighbour
Javelin throw: Kimberley Mickle, Kathryn
Mitchell
20km walk: Claire Tallent, Cheryl Webb
T37 100m: Jodi Elkington
F32-34/52/53 shot put: Louise Ellery, Brydee
Moore
4x400m relay: Boden, Jody Henry, Pirrenee Steinert, Olivia
Tauro
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