The finals action rolled on Day Five of the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games as javelin thrower Oscar Sullivan launched to fourth place, while Benjamin Guse finished the opening day of the decathlon with a 99-point lead.
Representing Australia and the University of Queensland, Sullivan set the tone with a 74.44m throw in the first round to stamp his presence on the field, producing a consistent series before a foul in the final round when chasing bronze medallist Topias Laine of Finland at 75.96m.
Decathlete Guse (QLD, Anette Rice) nailed five out of five personal bests on the opening day of the decathlon to stand clear atop of the table on 4081 points as the only man to surpass 4000 points, but the Southern Cross University student knows the job is far from done.
Aided by his biggest scores of 915 points for his 7.42m (-0.2) long jump and 885 points for a 10.89 (-0.4) reading over 100m, Guse led the way for the field which includes fellow Australian Sebastian Reyneke (VIC, Steve Cain) – who sits in ninth place on 3819 points aided by a shot put personal best.
World Under 20 bronze medallist Tryphena Hewett (SA, Kym Simons) added another global championship final to her growing resume when clinching eighth place in the pole vault with a 4.20m clearance, while Aiden Princena-White (NSW, Zsuzsanna Olgyay-Szabo) qualified for the men’s pole vault final when rising over 5.40m.
Other qualifying action was headlined by Olympic finalist Connor Murphy (NSW, Andrew Murphy) who coasted through the first round of the triple jump with a 16.25m (-1.2) leap, set to be joined in the final by Liam Glew (VIC, Alwyn Jones) after a 15.89m (+0.7) effort.
Australia will also look to feature heavily in the women’s javelin final after Lianna Davidson (NSW, Angus McEntyre) and Mia Gordon (QLD, Ben Thomson) proved prominent in the qualifying round, mustering throws of 57.83m and 56.39m respectively.
In the middle-distance ranks, Klara Dess (VIC, Darren Gauson) and Jack Lunn (VIC, Steve Fabris) had no trouble advancing to the next rounds over 1500m and 800m respectively, keeping their powder dry.
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Australian Athletics
Posted 26/7/2025
