10.03.2010

Young talent time

The newest addition to the Australian athletics calendar will be off and racing this Thursday, with more than 1500 athletes taking part in the Australian Junior Athletics Championships over four days at Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre.

Introduced by Athletics Australia and its state associations to act as a breeding ground for future stars of the sport and provide important stimulus for grass roots competition, the championships has attracted unprecedented entries creating the largest meet on the domestic season calendar.

Victorian Jordan Williamsz, who enjoyed a stellar year in 2009, is just one of the athletes who will be in action in Sydney. He took double gold in the boys' under 18 800m and 1500m at the Australian All Schools Championships late last year before posting a new personal best and world junior qualifying time of 3:44.27 at the Briggs Athletics Classic in February.

Following on from a great performance at the world youth championships in 2009, Williamsz is looking to add another junior representation to his resume.

“Heading to Canada for the world juniors is my aim in 2010,” Williamsz said.

“Running well at the national junior champs is vital in making that happen. I can’t wait to compete against Australia’s best in my age group and that will hopefully let me enjoy the thrill of competing for Australia again.”

Competing alongside Williamsz in the 1500m will be his world youth championships teammate Kane Grimster, who also set a new personal best time of 3:45.80 at the Hobart-hosted Briggs meet, and local athletes with world junior qualifiers Brett Robinson, Todd Wakefield and Joshua Wright.

New South Welshmen Jake Hammond and Patrick Fakiye will challenge Victorian Mathew Turk in the boys' under 20 100m and 200m. Members of the Athletics Australia Under 19 Talent Squad, Hammond and Turk have world junior qualifying times in the 100m and 200m with Fakiye most recently setting a new personal best time of 10.54 over 100m to post his third world junior qualifying performance in Sydney in mid-February.

In another battle between three, Caitlin Sargent will be joined on the start line in the girls' under 20 100m and 200m by Ella Nelson and Karlie Morton, who boast 100m/200m personal best times of 12.27/24.09 and 11.87/24.14 respectively. Each have achieved world junior qualifiers over 200m and the event is shaping up as one of the highlights of the meet.

Hurdler Raheen Williams of Western Australia will once again come up against New South Welshman Nicholas Hough in the boys' under 18 110m hurdles. Hough won the event in a blistering 11.32 at the Australian All Schools Championships in December and will also contend the boys' under 18 100m and 200m as he looks to book his ticket to Singapore for the Youth Olympics later this year.

The girls' and boys' under 20 10km race walk will feature Dane Bird-Smith, Sean Fitzsimons, Regan Lamble and Beth Alexander who competed in the invitational 10,000m race walk at the IAAF Race Walk Challenge in Hobart last month. The four will be looking to bolster their chances for world junior championships selection by adding additional qualifying-standard results against a very strong field.

Looking to continue an unbelievable start to 2010, WAIS athlete Elizabeth Parnov will provide a highlight in the field as she looks to secure a third Commonwealth Games A-qualifying result of 4.30m in the girls' pole vault. After clearing the height in both Sydney and Perth in February, Parnov will battle it out with Victorians Rebecca Marchant and Paris McCathrion.

World youth championships silver medallist Amy Pejkovic, who has a personal best of 1.86m, will raise the bar in the high jump. Pejkovic has been competing in open age events against Petrina Price, Ellen Pettit and Zoe Timmers in the past few months on the Australian Athletics Tour and enters the meet with four world junior qualifying performances already under her belt.

Finding his form at exactly the right time is 19-year-old Western Australian Matthew Cowie, who last weekend threw 18.18m in Perth to record his first world junior qualifier, joining Damien Birkinhead as one to watch in the under 20 boys' shot put.

With eight discus and one shot put world junior qualifying performances already to her name, Victorian Kim Mulhall will be favourite heading into the girls' under 20 events for both disciplines. Fellow up-and-coming athletes Prabhjot Rai and Taryn Gollshewsky, who in 2010 have thrown 47.91m and 48.24m respectively, will battle it out with Mulhall for the national title.

With more than 1500 athletes entered, world junior championships and Youth Olympics selection on the line as well as the coveted junior Australian title, Sydney Olympic Park will be buzzing from Thursday until Sunday night.

The standard will be high and competition fierce with many of the older competitors coming off impressive performances across the Australian Athletics Tour, which wound up in Melbourne last week.

To all coaches and athletes we say good luck and we encourage you, the athletics fraternity, to come along and show your support.

Technical rules, entry lists and a full event timetable can be found by clicking here ( http://www.athletics.com.au/competition/events/australian_junior_championship), with competition to commence this Thursday, March 11 at 10.15am.

Live results will be available on the Athletics Australia website from Thursday morning.