WA’s Track and Field Elite Ready for AAC17
Western Australia’s elite track and field talent will be in action for the 2017 Australian Athletics Championships in Sydney this week with the open senior events starting on Thursday.
With national bragging rights on offer as well as the lure of A-Qualifiers for the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London, this year’s titles are sure to serve up plenty of interest and intrigue.
WA’s pole vaulters have made headlines leading into the Championships, with London Olympian Liz Parnov setting a new personal best of 4.51m in her final warm up event before heading to the harbour city.
The effort will ensure Parnov competes in full confidence, having fought her way back to full fitness from a broken leg that cruelled her Rio ambitions in 2016.
Parnov’s training partner Nina Kennedy is one of a handful of Australian athletes who have already registered qualifying marks over the course of the Australian domestic summer and it is expected the duo will go head to head for the honour of national champion in Sydney.
Having jumped the World qualifier of 4.55m at the WA State Championships in February, Kennedy will have to fight for her maiden Open title, admitting consistency will be the key moving forward.
“Nationals is always a great competition, so I’m super excited. [Consistency] is definitely something I’ve focused on this season and it’s been working. Leading in to the World Championships it will be the focus with in training, so hopefully some big jumps will follow,” Kennedy said.
The WA contingent will be further buoyed by the efforts of 14 year-old vaulter Sasha Zhoya who broke a boys U16 Australian record to win the age national title (U17) on Monday, clearing a height of 4.92m that is also a world record for his age.
Brianna Beahan will lead the WA team on the track with the hurdler looking to build on a campaign that saw her defeat rival Michelle Jenneke at the Sydney Track Classic, whilst adding further interest, is the return of Australian track great Sally Pearson from injury.
Despite what the others bring in experience, Beahan believes she has the attributes to make an impact at nationals.
‘It would be nice to take it out,” she said. “Sally is coming back so it’ll be interesting. I feel confident, if I can execute what I’ve done at training then it should be a really good race.”
“Since the Grand Prix, I’ve shut off all social media and just gone back to basics. It’s been great, I’ve been able to refocus. I’ve worked on both the physical and mental aspects. I’ve been building on all my training components. I feel good,” she concluded.
Another track talent making confident strides on the national scene is middle distance runner Matt Ramsden.
The Youth Worlds representative recently predicted a personal best for the 2017 season and is setting himself high expectations following a breakout campaign at the Nitro Series in Melbourne.
“This season I’ll be hunting down a world championships qualifier, either in the US or Europe,” he said.
“I’m going to PB regardless because of the steps I’ve taken in upping my training since last season.
“I guess the question is ‘how much will I bring down my PB?’
“I’ll be racing at nationals and want to finish this domestic season with a medal – it will be a huge effort from me but I’ll put myself up there and do everything I can to win in Sydney.”
Sarah Edmiston goes into the National Championships with one of the most impressive para debuts of recent memory. Having only been classified internationally in the last month, Edmiston has made every effort to stake her claim for National selection having already secured the qualifying mark for the F44 discus.
Edmiston broke the Australian record in the discus event earlier in the year, but feels confident she can go bigger in Sydney.
“There is a good possibility, as long as it doesn’t rain. The competition will be interesting, it’s going to be tight given the para-athletes throw together. It’s a decent field of 11-athletes, so it’ll be tight,” Edmiston said.
“[The ambulant competition] will be good competition experience ahead of the World Championships in London. You don’t get that sort of competition exposure in WA, so it’s really good to have a few other people in the field who will push you.”
If Zoe Timmers’ recent form is anything to go by, the Open Women’s High Jump will be a highlight of the 2017 National Championships. Claiming a personal best at the SUMMERofATHS Grand Prix, Timmers will be chomping at the heels of Eleanor Patterson and Hannah Joye in a bid to collect the national title.
Other names to keep watch for include; Clare Gibson (high jump), Madison de Rozario (wheelchair racing), Ella Pardy (para-athletics) and Alana Yukich (400m hurdles).
The Australian Athletics Championships run from March 26 to May 2 and you can follow results on Athletics Australia’s website or through Athletics WA’s twitter feed.
– with Athletics WA