News
Seventy-five set to fly the flag in New Delhi
Four athletes have today been added to the final list of nominations submitted to the ACGA for inclusion in the XIX Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, in October.
Youcef Abdi (3000m steeplechase), Mitchell Kealey (1500m), Kaila McKnight (1500m) and Olivia Tauro (4x400m relay) were today put forward to the ACGA for inclusion in the team following the close of the qualifying period last Sunday, August 15.
The additions take to 75 the total number of
athletes nominated to the Commonwealth Games athletics team, which
includes 11 athletes with a disability.
2008 Olympic finalist and 2009 world championships representative
Youcef Abdi becomes Australia’s sole steeplechase contender at the
Games, the New South Welshman on track for his third straight
Commonwealth Games appearance after lining up in the 1500m in
Manchester (GBR) in 2002 and the 3000m steeplechase in Melbourne in
2006.
Queenslander Mitch Kealey moves into the highly sought-after 1500m berth vacated by the injured Jeff Riseley (plantar fascia), joining Ryan Gregson and Jeremy Roff in the hotly-contested event.
Twenty-six-year-old Kealey, who placed fourth
over 1500m at the national championships in April and has
represented Australia over the distance at the 2001 IAAF world
youth championships, 2007 World University Games and 2008 Olympic
Games, will make his Commonwealth Games debut in New Delhi.
Kealey will be one of 35 of the 64 able-bodied Australians
nominated to the team to make their Commonwealth Games debut this
October, alongside newly-nominated teammates Kaila McKnight and
Olivia Tauro.
McKnight, the national 1500m title-holder,
will fly the flag for Australia in the 1500m after posting an
A-qualifying time over the distance at the KBC Night of Athletics
meet in Heusden (BEL) in July.
Twenty-year-old Tauro, who won bronze in the 4x400m relay at the
2008 IAAF world junior titles in Bydgoszcz (POL), will join
newly-nominated relay runner Lauren Boden and 2009
world championships relay representatives Jody
Henry, Tamsyn Lewis and Pirrenee
Steinert in the women’s 4x400m relay.
National 400m hurdles champion Boden was today added to the women’s
4x400m relay team after being named to the one-lap hurdles event in
the first round of team nominations in April.
The 75-strong Australian athletics team will be spearheaded by
world, Olympic, world indoor and Commonwealth Games champion
Steve Hooker (pole vault), world champion
Dani Samuels (discus throw), world indoor champion
Fabrice Lapierre (long jump), Olympic medallists
Sally Pearson (100m hurdles) and Jared
Tallent (20km walk) and 29 fellow members of last year’s
IAAF world championships team, the most successful Australian
outfit in the history of the worldwide meet.
The squad features a true mix of youth and
experience with 16-year-old pole vaulter Liz
Parnov, who took silver in the event at the Youth Olympic
Games in Singapore (SIN) at the weekend, the youngest athlete
nominated to the team and track veteran Patrick
Johnson (4x100m relay) the oldest at 37.
Adding a wealth of experience to the squad will be Tamsyn
Lewis (4x400m relay) in her fifth Commonwealth Games
squad, while hammer thrower Karyne Di Marco has
been nominated for her fourth Commonwealth Games campaign and
Johnson (4x100m relay), Luke Adams (20km walk) and
Petrina Price (high jump) have each been nominated
for their third Games appearance.
Hooker will join John Steffensen (400m, 4x400m
relay), Scott Martin (shot put, discus throw) and
the men’s and women’s 4x400m relay teams in defence of their
Commonwealth Games crowns this October.
In a blow to the 75-strong Australian athletics team, 1500m athlete
Jeff Riseley and 400m hurdles star Tristan Thomas
(achilles) have withdrawn from the meet after succumbing to injury
in the all-important lead-up to the Games, while T54 1500m athlete
Christie Dawes has withdrawn from the team as she
celebrates news of the impending arrival of her first child.
The Australian team has a busy schedule ahead of its arrival in New
Delhi with the IAAF Continental Cup (September 4-5), Great North
City Games (September 18-19) and IAAF Oceania Championships
(September 23-25) all featuring on the calendar in the countdown to
the Commonwealth titles.
Men (45)
100m: Aaron Rouge-Serret (22, Vic)
200m: Matt Davies (25, Qld)
400m: Ben Offereins (24, WA), John Steffensen (27,
NSW), Joel Milburn (24, NSW)
800m: Lachlan Renshaw (23, NSW), Ryan Gregson (20,
NSW)
1500m: Gregson, Mitchell Kealey (26,
Qld), Jeremy Roff (26, NSW)
5000m: Ben St Lawrence (28, NSW), Collis
Birmingham (25, Vic), David McNeill (23, Vic)
10,000m: Birmingham
Marathon: Martin Dent (31, ACT), Jeff Hunt (27,
NSW), Michael Shelley (26, Qld)
3000m steeplechase: Youcef Abdi (32,
NSW)
400m hurdles: Brendan Cole (28, ACT)
High jump: Liam Zamel-Paez (21, Qld)
Pole vault: Steve Hooker (27, WA)
Long jump: Fabrice Lapierre (26, NSW), Chris
Noffke (22, Qld), Mitchell Watt (22, Qld)
Shot put: Scott Martin (27, Vic), Dale Stevenson
(22, Vic)
Discus throw: Benn Harradine (27, Vic), Martin,
Julian Wruck (18, Qld)
Hammer throw: Tim Driesen (26, Vic), Simon
Wardhaugh (24, Qld)
Javelin throw: Jarrod Bannister (25, Vic)
20km walk: Luke Adams (33, NSW), Chris Erickson
(28, Vic), Jared Tallent (25, Vic)
T46 100m: Gabriel Cole (18, SA), Heath Francis
(28, ACT), Simon Patmore (22, Qld)
T54 1500m: Richard Colman (25, Vic), Kurt Fearnley
(29, NSW), Jake Lappin (17, Vic)
F32/34/52 shot put: Damien Bowen (25, ACT), Hamish
MacDonald (35, ACT)
4x100m relay: Davies, Jacob Groth (24, NSW),
Patrick Johnson (37, Qld), Isaac Ntiamoah (27, NSW),
Rouge-Serret
4x400m relay: Milburn, Kevin Moore (19, NSW),
Offereins, Steffensen, Sean Wroe (25, Vic)
Women (30)
100m: Melissa Breen (19, ACT)
1500m: Kaila McKnight (24, Vic)
5000m: Eloise Wellings (27, NSW)
10,000m: Wellings
100m hurdles: Hayley Butler (26, NSW), Sally
Pearson (nee McLellan, 23, Qld)
400m hurdles: Lauren Boden (21, ACT)
Marathon: Lisa Flint (25, NSW), Lisa Weightman
(31, Vic)
High jump: Ellen Pettitt (24, WA), Petrina Price
(26, NSW)
Pole vault: Amanda Bisk (24, WA), Alana Boyd (26,
WA), Liz Parnov (16, WA)
Shot put: Joanne Mirtschin (29, ACT)
Discus throw: Dani Samuels (22, NSW)
Hammer throw: Karyne Di Marco (32, NSW), Bronwyn
Eagles (29, NSW), Gabrielle Neighbour (26, Vic)
Javelin throw: Kimberley Mickle (25, WA), Kathryn
Mitchell (27, Vic)
20km walk: Jessica Rothwell (20, Vic), Claire
Tallent (28, SA), Cheryl Webb (33, NSW)
T37 100m: Jodi Elkington (16, Vic)
F32-34/52/53 shot put: Louise Ellery (33, Vic),
Brydee Moore (19, Vic)
4x400m relay: Boden, Jody Henry (25, WA), Tamsyn
Lewis (31, Vic), Pirrenee Steinert (25, NSW), Olivia Tauro
(20, NSW)
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