Australian Athletics welcomes 29 new international referees to its growing list of World Athletics technical officials.
And pleasingly for the first time since the Bronze Level evaluations began there is at least one successful candidate from each state or territory – with Queensland and Tasmania topping the lists in 2026.
Reflecting long-achieved outcomes for Australia there is once again effective gender parity – with this year’s list including 14 women and 15 men.
The youngest member of the new cohort is Brisbane university student Alex Bradley (19) who joins his mother Liz who became a Bronze Referee last year. Conversely Anthony Kruck is the second member of his family to attain the qualification following his son Aidan from 2024.
“We are delighted that so many of our volunteer officials from around the country are successfully exploring the international education and qualification pathways available to them,” CEO Simon Hollingsworth said.
“It’s important that the quality and integrity of all our World Ranking Competitions and Road Races can be maintained through the presence of an ever-expanding group of World Athletics recognised officials.
“And what’s also great is that the list includes a healthy number of officials from regional competition home-bases as well as our key metropolitan venues.”
ACT: Ruud van Scheppingen; Geoff Sims
NSW: Leighanne Priestley
NT: Mike Reidy
QLD: Jenny Boardman, Alex Bradley, Jane Chester, Andrea Field, Lee-Anne Hinschen, Anthony Kruck, Izabela Marczyk, Roisin O’Dwyer-Mazur, Josh Roney, Joe Tuton, Heather Vaughan, Sara Wessling
SA: Jane Mudge
TAS: Jarrod Gibson, Phil Hniat, Jess Palermo, Mark Smith, Sandra Speers, Wim Vaessen
VIC: Peter Barrett, Eugene Nemesi, George Proimos
WA: Cliff Bernard, Marie Fitzsimons, Jacinta Thompson
By Brian Roe, Australian Athletics
Posted 25/6/2026
