Australia’s most versatile athletes are locked and loaded for the opening day of the Australian Athletics Championships where heptathlete Tori West and decathlete Benjamin Guse will prepare to defend their crowns, while Michael Mayne and Akeesha Snowden headline the Para-athletics action.
The first of four days of the championships being held at Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre will see the nation’s best athletes warm into proceedings, with the multi-eventers taking centre stage.
A pair of 6000-point heptathletes will go head-to-head as Tori West (VIC, Eric Brown & Sam Leslie) and Camryn Newton-Smith (QLD, Ralph Newton & Gavin Hunter) clash once again in the seven-event showdown, separated by less than 70 points on paper.
The opening day will see them lead a record field of 26 athletes through the opening four events; the 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200m, while Maddie Wilson (NZL) looks to spoil the Australian party as an international visitor with a 6059-point personal best.
Newton-Smith has traditionally held the ascendency in the 100m hurdles and high jump with her personal bests of 13.41-seconds and 1.84m, but expect West to fight back with a well-rounded performance across the two-day competition – the javelin throw regularly a catalyst in her victories.
The decathlon will feature 2025 FISU World University Games champion Bejamin Guse (QLD, Annette Rice) in what could be a changing of the guard, with five-time Australian champion Cedric Dubler and Olympic bronze medallist Ashley Moloney both not entered in the contest.
Approaching his maiden 8000-point performance with a 7918-point personal best, Guse will put his best foot forwards for the 2026 Commonwealth Games, despite still building back from an elbow injury that could impact his javelin throw.
A pair of World Para Athletics Championships representatives will lead the way in the Para-athletics ranks, with raw prospect Michael Mayne (VIC, Alwyn Jones, T38) taking on the long jump and Akeesha Snowden (SA, Lynn Larsen, T37) flexing her versatility over her favoured 400m distance.
Mayne will be out to improve on his 6.33m career-best when taking of Trans-Tasman rival William Stedman (NZL, T36) who has four global long jump medals to his name, while Snowden will take on Australian teammate Telaya Blacksmith (NSW, Jacinta Doyle, T20).
Meanwhile in the first-round action on the track, Olympic silver medallist Jessica Hull (NSW, Simon Hull) and teenage sensation Cameron Myers (ACT, Dick Telford) will headline the 1500m heats alongside Claudia Hollingsworth (VIC, Craig Mottram) and Adam Spencer (VIC, Tomasz Lewandowski), while the World Championships duo of Stephanie Ratcliffe (VIC, Dale Stevenson) and Lara Roberts (QLD, John Frazier) look to sail through the qualifying round of the hammer throw.
Full entry lists and live results are available HERE.
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Australian Athletics
Posted 8/4/2026
