Mickle Sparkles in Competition Return
WAIS javelin thrower Kim Mickle has landed 26cm short of breaking her own Australian record after a successful return to competition at Melbourne’s IAAF World Challenge.
The dual reigning WAIS Athlete of the Year had her first competition throw since the Perth Track Classic on Valentine’s Day to finish second behind South Africa’s Sunette Viljoen.
With an Achilles issue sidelining the javelin star, Mickle showed she was injury free and suffering no ill-effect of her time away from the track.
Of Mickle’s four legal throws, she passed the A-Qualifying standard for the 2015 IAAF World Championships with each, with the best coming in the third round where the 30 year-old recorded a season’s best throw of 66.57m, which was just inches short of her own national record claimed at the same meet last year.
With the Australian Athletics Championships starting this Thursday in Brisbane, Mickle is considered odds on to win an unprecedented 10thnational javelin title when she competes on Friday.
There will be a legitimate threat in the form of Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Kelsey Lee Roberts, who set a new personal best of 64.59m in Melbourne, whilst Victoria’s Kathryn Mitchell is another world class athlete capable of big throws.
The competing WAIS pole vaulters had a quieter night than they’ve become accustomed to in recent months, with junior world record holder Nina Kennedy registering no height, and Olympian Liz Parnov clearing only 4.05m. Emma Philippe was best of the WA crop, vaulting 4.20m, in a meet where Alana Boyd registered her first A-Qualifier (4.50m) for the summer.
Brisbane was always the priority for Parnov’s fliers, and the pole vault group are expected to vie with Boyd for national bragging rights, when the women’s competition gets underway on Saturday.
WAIS runner, Lyndsay Pekin will tackle the 20m and 400m double in Brisbane as she continues her switch from hurdles.