Diamond Delight for Australian Discus King Denny
Published Sat 14 Sep 2024
Australia’s Olympic bronze medallist Matthew Denny is the back-to-back Diamond League champion, securing the victory with a stunning national record performance, while the high flying Olympic silver medallist Nicola Olyslagers has landed on the podium once more on the first night of the Wanda Diamond League finals in Belgium overnight.
With a first-round attempt of 69.96m in the Men's Discus, Denny (Dale Stevenson) became the hunted throughout the competition, the opposite of his victory from last year.
“I knew I was in really good shape, I thought that 70m was on the card tonight but you never know with changing conditions. First round was a nice one to win it, but what I’ve learnt winning last year and this year, is that I’d rather do it in the last round than the first round,” Denny said.
“It’s a lot more stressful to do it in the first round when you’re waiting for guys like Mykolas (Alekna, LTU) and Daniel (Stahl, SWE) and Kristian (Ceh, SLO) to finish out their comp and you don’t know if you’ve got it or not, but it was definitely a different experience for me, when I’m trying to be ready to respond and focus on throwing further.”
Denny’s performance improved his own national record set at the Chemist Warehouse Australian Athletics Championships back in April by 61cm and improved the 40-year-old meeting record by two-centimetres.
“It’s about when we get to 70m now. I thought there was a 71m throw in me tonight if I’m honest. We’ve got a big focus for the beginning of next year. I’m going to go to the US and chase that world record and I know a lot of the other guys here tonight will be there too.”
Two-time Olympic silver medallist Nicola Olyslagers (Matt Horsnell) showed her fighting spirit in the women’s high jump against world record holder and Olympic Champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh.
With first-round clearances at 1.88m and 1.92m, the Australian record holder required second attempts to get over 1.95m and 1.97m, while Mahuchikh retained a clean sheet.
The bar was raised to 2.01m with neither athlete going clear, which handed Mahuchikh her third straight Wanda Diamond League Final victory.
“I’m finishing the season strong, healthy and really enjoying the atmosphere. I’m in this competition with a revived joy and it’s exciting. For me, I drew strength from God and it filled me up with a different passion to be out there,” Olyslagers said.
“I finished my season with 1.97m but next year I’m hoping for more. I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve so I can hopefully be jumping two-metres again and having more fun.”
Olympic bronze medallist Eleanor Patterson (Alex Stewart) finished her season with a gallant fourth place. The Olympic bronze medallist had a clean sheet until 1.92m, rounding out her season with a clearance of 1.88m.
Also in action tonight was Commonwealth champion Oliver Hoare (Dathan Ritzenhein) who crossed the line in 10th place in the 1500m, clocking 3:34.13, as world number one Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) took the crown in 3:30.37 over Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot and USA’s Olympic champion Cole Hocker.
Olympic finalist Stewart McSweyn (Nic Bideau) book ended his season with the 5000m, this time as the second pacemarker. The race was won by Ethiopian Berihu Aregawi in12:43.66.
Competition returns to King Baudouin Stadium tomorrow with four Aussies competing on the final day of 2024 Wanda Diamond League;
- Women’s Javelin Throw (2:52am AEST) – Mackenzie Little
- Women’s Pole Vault (3:51am AEST) – Nina Kennedy
- Women’s 1500m (4:54am AEST) – Jessica Hull and Georgia Griffith
By Richard Welsh for Athletics Australia
Posted: 14/9/2024
