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Field ready to raise the bar
The stage is set for a great domestic contest this weekend when the nation's best female high jumpers go head-to-head at the NSW Championships.
The 14-strong field set to battle it out for state honours is one of the best seen on the domestic circuit in recent years and sure to be a highlight of Saturday’s program.
While the athletes may not yet boast international acclaim or their names have household status it's the close standard of entrants that has athletics onlookers in a spin, with the weekend's competition set to go right down to the wire.
Leading the charge will be Petrina Price, whose jump of 1.91m last month will see her enter the event as one of the hot favourites.
Just don’t tell that to Price.
“Every competition this season I’ve just said that I am not the favourite when I step out on the track,” Price said.
“I haven’t even been back with my coach for a year yet and the last four years I’ve been struggling to jump 1.80m, so I just see myself as the underdog now whenever I step onto the track.”
Lining up alongside the 24-year-old will be a host of in-form athletes wanting to stake their claim on the season ahead.
The field is hot and Price knows she’s in for a tough encounter.
“Catherine Drummond has jumped 1.90m, Ellen (Pettit) jumps 1.91m every year, there’s Zoe (Timmers) who’s coming up through the ranks at 1.87m, and then you’ve got Sophia (Begg) whose personal best is 1.88m, so there’s a lot of people in the event who have got big PB’s and if not, juniors coming through,” she said.
Other names to watch include fierce rivals Amy Pejkovic and Shani Sleeman, Claire Mallett, Mia MacKinnon and ex-World Youth representative Trudy Thompson.
But while great anticipation surrounds the weekend’s event, Price is determined just to enjoy her return to form.
“I’m purely just jumping for fun and enjoying it at the moment, I’m not getting carried away by the standard,” she said.
“I know that anyone can medal and everyone’s going to have be jumping the best they’ve jumped all season, it’s going to be a very interesting competition.”
After a frustrating few years on the track and field circuit Price’s return to form could not have come at a better time.
And for the News South Wales local, this is just the beginning.
“I do have goals set this season and I do want to be jumping A and B qualifiers and if not, just trying to get a PB out,” she said.
“I’d love to get up near my PB again, even if I equal my PB that means I’m back. I know people say I’m back now with my 1.91m in Sydney last month, but I don’t see myself as being back until I equal my PB.”
While the intensity of the field this weekend may provide the extra push she needs, Price is the first to admit her return to form came as a surprise.
“It was a huge shock, I wasn’t expecting that at all,” she said.
“I think my dad and my coach were happier than I was but to do that 1.91m after the last four or five years, I was just really happy.”
Now back in medal contention, Price will have to be at her best again this weekend if she is to take home the gold.
“It makes it exciting to compete now that we’re all so competitive against each other, it makes for interesting competitions ahead, that’s for sure.”
For further event information, click here.
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