Azzopardi holds nerve to rule Oceania

Pre-race favourite Josh Azzopardi (NSW, Rob Marks) held his nerve under pressure to be crowned the Oceania champion in the Men’s 100m, clocking 10.21 (-1.0) in the final after equalling the meet record of 10.19-seconds in the semi-final.

The seventh fastest Australian man in history defeated Jackson Rowe (NSW, Andrew Murphy) in 10.26-seconds and Tiaan Whelpton (NZL) in 10.30-seconds.

“I feel pretty good, it was a bit of a swirly wind today. It was very hot and it’s very hard to back it up,” Azzopardi, a New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship  holder said.

“I now have back-to-back titles here and great world ranking points, so I’m really happy.”

Olympic high jumper and world-class showman Yual Reath was at his entertaining best when soaring to the Oceania title on Day Three in Darwin, as sprinter Joshua Azzopardi sailed to his crowning moment over 100m.

Taking flight in the Men’s High Jump, Reath (VIC, Mike Barber) landed his best jump in two years with a 2.28m clearance to defeat Australian rivals Roman Anastasios (VIC, Sandro Bisetto) and Brandon Starc (NSWIS, Alex Stewart).

With the competition won at 2.23m, the landscape gardener from Ballarat raised the bar once more to delight the crowd as the sun set in Darwin – bouncing back from failing to clear a bar at Sunday’s Golden Grand Prix in Tokyo.

“After coming off Tokyo last weekend no-heighting at 2.15m, and then coming here on Monday morning, I was thinking of this as a redemption competition,” Reath said.

“At the start I was so nervous, it was like Tokyo, I couldn’t even feel my feet! Once I got that first jump, I was like let’s go.

“I had two good cracks at 2.31m, I definitely think I can get that in the bag.”

Olympic hammer thrower Stephanie Ratcliffe (VIC, Dale Stevenson) launched a seasons best of 68.12m in the opening round but it was Trans-Tasman rival Lauren Bruce (NZL) who had the immediate reply, throwing 70.64m to upstage her Australian training partner.

The neuroscience graduate from Harvard University is enjoying her first season back on Australian soil.

“I felt like I did everything I could today. It was hot. It’s a great group of girls and I love competing with them,” Ratcliffe said.

“I’m really loving being back home. I’ve got such a good training setup in Melbourne and at the VIS [Victorian Institute of Sport]. They all have been amazing. I haven’t been home for long, but it’s all coming together.”

Setting a new Australian record, Lee O’Halloran (ACT, Hamish MacDonald, F46) continued his rise in the Shot Put F46 to be crowned the Oceania champion, throwing 14.77m to score 87.91 on the BASELINE system, while Paralympic sprinter Telaya Blacksmith (NSWIS, Jacinta Doyle, T20) won her first gold of the championships.

Blacksmith blazed around the track in 59.29-seconds to take out the Women’s 400m Ambulant with a score of 94.43, while Mitchell Warrilow (WA, Lenny Hughes, T38) was a dominant winner in the men’s event – clocking 51.47-seconds for a score of 95.84 to stamp his presence as a name of the future.

In the first round of the Men’s 400m Hurdles, Matthew Hunt (NSW, Ben Liddy) left nothing to chance when setting a scorching personal best of 49.33-seconds in a bid to bolster his Commonwealth Games qualification bid ahead of Friday’s final.

“I really wanted to run a 48, but we will see how we go in the final. It feels good to have the meet record, which isn’t bad as I flew in last night at 3am so I’m pretty tired,” Hunt said.

Rockhampton teenager Lily Woods (QLD, Melanie Woods) leapt to a career-best 12.68m (+1.4) to win the Under 18 Girls Triple Jump, piling 30cm onto her previous best in the series which featured three jumps over her former mark, while 12.46m (+2.7) was enough for Amalia Bond (NSW, Michael Hamlyn-Harris) to clinch bronze.

In the first track event of the day, the World Under 20 Championships bound duo of Libby Mantay (QLD, Sharon Iselin) and Helena Butler (QLD, Melanie Black) went toe-to-toe in the Under 18 Girls 300m, with Mantay pouring on the pace in a front-running masterclass to win in 9:39.40 over Butler’s 9:55.61.

The Under 18 hurdles races over 110m for boys and 100m for girls were also loaded with talent, as the versatile Ken Ferrante Tanikawa (SA, Lio Ferrante) and Aisha Shave (ACT, Rowan Vergano) clinched victories in times of 13.74 (-2.9) and 13.94 (-1.4) respectively.

The Oceania Athletics Championships are being at Darwin’s Arafura Stadium from May 18-23.

Full results can be found HERE.

Lachlan Moorhouse, Australian Athletics