With momentum building and the stakes at their highest, the penultimate day of the Australian Athletics Championships is set to ignite, with the nation’s fastest men and women chasing history to collide with a golden resurgence in homegrown sprinting power.
The Men’s 100m final has quickly shaped up as the headline act, with the first legal sub-10 by an Australian in more than two decades still up for grabs after the yesterday’s heats along with national gold.
Now the second fastest man in Australian history, Lachie Kennedy (QLD, Andrew Iselin) poses as the favourite in both quests, with the World Indoor Championships medallist conceding he put in “90 percent” into his Opening Round performance, with the last 40-metres of his race feeling calm and relaxed.
“I really want to save my juice for the final because I want the final to be intense. I was just practicing how I want to run in the final,” Kennedy said.
“I got the World Championships qualifier, so I know I’ll go sub. It’s just a matter of time. The race for that legal nine is so on.”
With Rohan Browning (NSW, Andrew Murphy) back firing with a 10.07 (+2.1) after injury setting him back over the last two years, Kennedy will be challenged but it won’t just be the Olympic semi-finalist looking to stop the Queenslander from reaching the world-class barrier first. Reigning national champion Sebastian Sultana (NSW, Greg Smith), and Australia’s second fastest man this year Josh Azzopardi (NSW, Rob Marks) will add to Kennedy’s wish for intensity in their bid for gold.
Australia’s fastest woman Torrie Lewis (QLD, Laurent Meuwely) and Olympic teammate Bree Rizzo (QLD, Ryan Hoffman) both clocked 11.25 in the heats, with Rizzo looking to grab onto her first national title in the sport after a season of wins. While Lewis ran only her first 100m for the year having focused on 60m abroad, the pair will face a challenge from 17-year-old Leah O’Brien (WA, Braiden Clarke) who broke Raelene Boyle’s long-standing Under-18 record with a scorching 11.14 run earlier in the Championships.
Paralympic champion and world record holder James Turner (ACT, Iryna Dvoskina, T36) roars for the last time over the Chemist Warehouse Summer Season, leading the Open 100m Ambulant field having unofficially broken the T36 record last month. A time of 11.71 or below will see the Canberran follow the world record bonanza headlined by Vanessa Low and Reece Langdon on Thursday.
While the title is all but Turner’s on the BASELINE scoring system, the undefeated Australian champion will be pushed by Australia’s fastest Paralympian Chad Perris (ACT, Matt Beckenham, T13) alongside sub-11 sprinter Jaydon Page (ACT, Rohan Vergano, T47) and rising star Ullrich Muller (T38) who tested the experience Turner earlier in the week over 400m.
The women’s event will be equally as deep, with Paralympic medallist Mali Lovell (NSW, Katie Edwards and Melinda Gainsford-Taylor, T36) taking on World Championships medallist Rhiannon Clarke (WA, Danny Kevan, T38) while Paralympic champion Anna Grimaldi (NZ) will ignite the trans-Tasman rivalry to show off New Zealand’s supremacy.
The sprinting action continues in the Women’s U20 100m Hurdles, with World Under 20 Champion Delta Amidzovski (NSW, Becky Amidzovski) ready to stake her claim in her first of two events while Under 18 champion Oliver Facer (NSW)steps up an age group in attempt to make his presence known as the fastest junior over the sticks.
While sprints have dominated the headlines, the day will also feature the middle distance magic of Olympic silver medallist Jessica Hull (NSW, Simon Hull) who gets ready to extend her reign in the 1500m Final, after making lightwork of Heat 1 alongside Georgia Griffith (VIC, Nic Bideau). The stakes heighten with a duo of sub-four minute stars Linden Hall (VIC, Ned Brophy-Williams) and Sarah Billings (VIC, Nic Bideau) with the quartet looking to impress selectors ahead of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo this September.
World Under 20 record holder Cameron Myers (ACT, Dick Telford) will be eyeing off his first Australian Open title, with the teenager ready to roar against the might of reigining champion and Olympic semi-finalist Adam Spencer and Commonwealth champion Oliver Hoare (NSW).
All eyes will be on Round 2 of the Men’s 800m, with Olympic hero Peter Bol (VIC, Justin Rinaldi) ready to take back his Australian title from Luke Boyes (NSW, Ben St Lawrence) after a three-way battle to the finish line with Peyton Craig (VIC, Brendan Mallyon and Craig Mottram) in 2024, and now a fourth two-lap racer enters the race for a place on the podium with 17-year-old Daniel Williams (NSW) pushing the trio and aiming to dismantle Craig’s Under 20 record.
There will be no shortage of talent on the field, with global medallists taking to the javelin runway. Olympic medallist Kelsey-Lee Barber (QLD, Mike Barber) and 2023 World Championships medallist Mackenzie Little (NSW, Angus McEntyre) will battle for another title, however it is 22-year-old Mia Gordon (QLD) who is quickly closing in on the 60-metre barrier.
With discus king Matthew Denny competing abroad, hometown favourite Etienne Rosseau (WA, Didier Poppe) and 19-year-old Ethan Ayodele (NSW) will take advantage of the wide-open field. Only two-centimetres separate the duo, with the pair both achieving lifetime bests this season of 58.73m and 58.71m respectively.
The high jump action returns with a three-way battle between reigning champion Yual Reath (VIC), Australian record holder Brandon Starc (NSW, Alex Stewart) and the highest ranked Australian this year, Roman Anastasios (VIC, Sandro Bisetto) in the Open Men’s event, while in the Women’s Under 20 ranks, World Under 20 Championships representatives Toby Stolberg (QLD) and Izobelle Louison-Roe (NSW) go head-to-head.
The qualification rounds of the Triple Jump saw Desleigh Owusu (NSW, Andrew Murphy) bound to a personal best of 13.74m to lead the qualifiers by 67cm, boosting confidence for the Australian title alongside her training partner Olympian Connor Murphy (NSW) who is the favourite in the Men’s event.
The Australian Athletics Championships continue tomorrow from 10.45am AWST, with the meet the finale of the Chemist Warehouse Summer Series. The Australian Athletics Championships are also supported by the Western Australian Government through Tourism WA, as well as Venues West and Athletics West.
By Sascha Ryner, Australian Athletics
Posted: 12/4/2025
