Boyd Sets A-Qualifier
WAIS Commonwealth Games pole vault champion Alana Boyd has set an A-Qualifier for August’s World Championships in Daegu, South Korea at a training competition at the WA Athletics Stadium.
Boyd’s clearance of 4.50m set tongues wagging across Australia, especially as it was the Beijing Olympian’s first competitive hit-out off her full run-up.
Competing at the Brisbane Track Classic in the first round of the Australian Athletics Tour the weekend prior, Boyd stalled at 3.70m off eight steps and few would have predicted the height Boyd cleared back at full measure.
“The result showed that Alana is working well under coach Alex Parnov’s program and she can now target her personal best of 4.56m,” said WAIS Athletics Performance Manager Brian Glencross.
“Having set a world championships qualifier, she can now focus clearly on the remainder of the Athletics Tour and of course the Tour final that will be held in Perth,” he said.
Boyd will next compete at the Sydney Track Classic on the 19th of March.
WAIS shot put athlete Matt Cowie travelled to Hobart last weekend to compete in the Briggs Athletics Classic against former world champion Reese Hoffa of the USA.
Hoffa showed his class winning the meet with a high quality heave of 21.08m, whilst 20 year-old Cowie finished a credible fifth with a best distance of 15.49m as he continues improving in his first full year at senior open level.