Athletics National Championship Preview

Five hundred and ninety-eight of Australia’s top track and field athletes are today just 24 hours away from launching their bid for Commonwealth Games selection at the Go for 2&5 88th Australian Athletics Championships and Commonwealth Games selection trials in Perth, Western Australia.

From tomorrow the nation’s top athletes – both accomplished and aspiring – will step out at the all-new Western Australian Athletics Stadium for three days of hard-fought track and field action, where national crowns and tickets to the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, will be up for grabs.

While the trials are not the final opportunity for athletes to be selected to the Games team, victory can ensure automatic selection for those athletes who already have an A-qualifying performance on the board.

Top-eight finishers from last year’s IAAF world championships in Berlin Steve Hooker (pole vault), Dani Samuels (discus throw), Mitchell Watt (long jump), Fabrice Lapierre (long jump), Sally McLellan (100m hurdles) and Jared Tallent (20km walk), as well as top-20 placed marathon runner Lisa Weightman, have all earned pre-selection to the team and by the end of this week’s trials will be joined on the team sheet by the athletes who will form the core of the Australian Flame in New Delhi in October.

A heart-stopping three days of action now await, with many champions to be crowned, talents to uncover and stories to be told. Here are six of the best events in store in Perth this weekend:

Men’s 400m
Who: Joel Milburn, Ben Offereins, John Steffensen, Sean Wroe
When: Heats – Friday 7:05pm
Final – Saturday 8:55pm
Why: Four of the five members of the bronze medal-winning 4x400m relay team at last year’s world championships in Berlin will go head-to-head over one hot lap, with local favourite and form athlete of the 2010 Australian Athletics Tour Ben Offereins expected to lead the charge. 2006 Commonwealth Games champion John Steffensen returns to domestic competition after sitting out the Tour series and will no doubt be looking to mark his return with a win.

Men’s 1500m
Who: Collis Birmingham, Ryan Gregson, Mitch Kealey, Jeff Riseley, Jeremy Roff
When: Heats – Saturday 1:25pm
Final – Sunday 3:10pm
Why: Four Berlin world championships representatives – Collis Birmingham, Ryan Gregson, Jeff Riseley and Jeremy Roff – will join Beijing Olympian Mitch Kealey in the race for just three 1500m berths on the Commonwealth Games team. All five athletes already have A-qualifiers to their names so it will be a fast and furious race towards the national title and a ticket to New Delhi.

Men’s Pole vault
Who: Commonwealth, Olympic, world and world indoor champion Steve Hooker
When: Final – Sunday 1:30pm
Why: A $100,000 prize purse awaits Steve Hooker if he can break Sergey Bubka’s long-standing world record of 6.14m set in 1994 this weekend. The inaugural captain of the Australian Flame has been unstoppable in recent years and with all four major international crowns now locked away in his trophy cabinet, the world record remains all that stands between Hooker and the title of greatest vaulter of all time. With the home crowd behind him Hooker is every chance to enter legend territory this weekend.

Men’s Long jump
Who: Robbie Crowther, Shaun Fletcher, Henry Frayne, Fabrice Lapierre, Chris Noffke
When: Qualifying – Friday 4:00pm
Final – Sunday 2:20pm
Why: On the hunt for jumping Jai Taurima’s national record (8.49m), world indoor champion Fabrice Lapierre takes on former world youth champion Chris Noffke and former world junior champion Robbie Crowther in a bid for back-to-back national titles. After his last-ditch leap to take home the national crown last year Lapierre will be hoping for a far less nail-biting outing in Perth and will line up as hot favourite with world and world indoor championships bronze medallist Mitchell Watt out of the action through injury.

Women’s Pole vault
Who: Amanda Bisk, Alana Boyd, Charmaine Lucock, Liz Parnov, Vicky Parnov
When: Final – Saturday 7:10pm
Why: In a showcase of Western Australian athletics talent, local hopes Amanda Bisk, Alana Boyd and the Parnov sisters will join Queenslander Charmaine Lucock in the running for the national crown. Lining up as one of the youngest competitors in Perth this weekend, Liz Parnov joins Bisk and Boyd as one of only three A-qualified athletes to date, setting up a scintillating showdown on the Perth runway.

Women’s Discus throw
Who: World champion Dani Samuels
When: Qualifying – Saturday 2:00pm
Final – Sunday 1:05pm
Why: World champion Dani Samuels has shown no signs of letting up in 2010, posting a new personal best of 65.84m at the Sydney Track Classic in February to prove she’s in dangerous form ahead of the Commonwealth Games. Her place on the team already secured following her result in Berlin, Samuels has nothing to lose this weekend and will come out swinging in search of her fifth consecutive national discus title.

Competition commences at the Western Australian Athletics Stadium at 2.30pm tomorrow. The action continues from 1:10pm on Saturday and concludes on Sunday from 11:15am.

– Athletics Australia