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08.09.2010

Harradine and Samuels to lead throws charge in Delhi

Australia will head to the Commonwealth Games with a throws team of 18 athletes next month, with world discus champion Dani Samuels and Australian discus record-holder Benn Harradine set to lead the green and gold charge in New Delhi (IND) when the athletics action gets under way on October 6.

To be joined by a broader athletics team of 75, athletics.com.au today introduces those taking to the circle on the sub-continent, with the remaining athletes to be highlighted in coming weeks.

The youngest ever world discus champion on the back of her performance at the Berlin-hosted world championships last August, Samuels improved her personal best to 65.84m in February in front of her home crowd at the Sydney Track Classic.

Crowned national champion for the fourth time with a 63.61m heave at the Australian Athletics Championships in April, the 22-year-old then placed atop the dais at the Osaka Grand Prix (63.75m) before finishing second at the Doha instalment of the IAAF Diamond League series with a 64.67m best effort during May.

After placing fourth at the Continental Cup last weekend, Samuels will now return to Australia to line up at the Oceania Athletics Championships in late September before travelling to New Delhi for the Games.

Samuels was joined at the Continental Cup meet in Split (CRO) by Benn Harradine, the three-time national champion improving his own Australian record by 8cm to win a silver medal with a best mark of 66.45m.

Looking to improve on his eighth place at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, Harradine has finished on the podium seven times from nine appearances on the European circuit in 2010, including victory at the Internationales Lausitzer Meeting (62.84m) and the Thum Werfertag meet (65.36m), both in Germany.

Harradine will compete alongside Julian Wruck and Scott Martin at the Games, Wruck most recently winning a bronze medal at the IAAF world junior championships in Moncton (CAN) in July.

The defending Commonwealth discus champion, Martin won the silver medal (60.25m) behind Harradine at the national championships in April before taking gold (19.83m) in the men’s shot put.

As national shot put champion Martin will also line up in the shot put event at next month’s Commonwealth titles, with Dale Stevenson, Joanne Mirtschin, Damien Bowen (F34), Hamish MacDonald (F34), Louise Ellery (F32) and Brydee Moore (F33) also on the shot put start list.

Meanwhile, Jarrod Bannister will don the green and gold in the men’s javelin throw while Kathryn Mitchell and Kim Mickle fly the flag in the women’s event.

Boasting a personal best of 89.02m, Bannister has been a regular fixture on the IAAF Diamond League circuit of late, lining up in Lausanne (sixth – 81.33m), Paris (fourth – 80.13m), Stockholm (sixth – 77.89m) and Brussels (fourth – 82.05m) before placing fourth with a best throw of 79.99m at the Continental Cup last weekend.

The back-to-back Australian champion, Mickle was a founding member of the Australian Flame at the world championships last August, while Mitchell will be looking to improve on her sixth place at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and her 59.68m personal best achieved at the Victorian State Championships in March.

A contingent of five hammer athletes rounds out the Australian throws team, Karyne Di Marco, Gabrielle Neighbour, Bronwyn Eagles, Simon Wardhaugh and Tim Driesen all competing.

New Delhi will be Di Marco’s fourth appearance at a Commonwealth Games, Neighbour and Eagles lining up for a second time on the back of Neighbour’s debut at the 2006 Melbourne Games (seventh – 61.55m) and Eagles’ maiden Commonwealth appearance at the 2002 Manchester Games (second – 65.24m).

The Australian hammer champion with a 69.37m heave in Perth during April, Wardhaugh was joined on the podium by Driesen (second – 67.81m) at the Australian Athletics Championships, the pair both making their international debuts at the Games.

Competing at the Oceania Athletics Championships prior to their departure for New Delhi, Australia’s hammer throwers will be joined by their Australian teammates for the opening ceremony on October 3.

Athletics competition commences on October 6 with athletics.com.au your one-stop shop for athlete profiles, results and Commonwealth Games updates once the 72 nations descend on India.

XIX Commonwealth Games
New Delhi (IND)
October 3 – 14

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, Mitch 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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