Hull Crowned 3000m 2024 National Champion

Mixing tradition with the new wave of Australian athletics talent, the 2024 Sydney Track Classic at E.S Marks Athletics Field witnessed Australian 3000m champion Jessica Hull and Cameron Myers crowned, and a pair of relay records tumble thanks to the nation’s fastest women.

Australian record holder and NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) athlete Jessica Hull (NSW, Simon Hull) reigned supreme in a star-studded Australian 3000m Championships, making a commanding move at the bell to stretch away from the field in 8:37.18, as Georgia Griffith (VIC, Nic Bideau) closed hard in her 3000m debut to claim silver in 8:37.91 and fellow NSWIS athlete Rose Davies (NSW, Scott Westcott)  landed bronze in 8:39.81.

“I had to try and do something uncomfortable tonight and I felt like I held my nerve out there, there were a few times where I was thinking it would be so much easier if I just go, and I think practicing that finish is going to help me,” Hull said.

Jessica Hull

2022 world champion and fellow NSWIS athlete Eleanor Patterson (NSW, Alex Stewart) made her return to jumping on home soil after a two year hiatus, securing the win in a field of rising talent with a 1.88m clearance. The World Championships silver medallist led the way for World Under 20 qualifiers from Izobelle Louison-Roe (NSW, Karen Roe, 1.80m) and Toby Stolberg (QLD, Marty Stolberg, 1.80m).

Australia’s sprinters lit up the track with a new national 4x100m record of 42.94-seconds, with the quartet of Ebony Lane (VIC, Matt Carter), Bree Masters (QLD, Ryan Hoffman), NSWIS athlete Ella Connolly (NSW, Andrew Murphy) and Torrie Lewis (QLD, Andrew Iselin) reaping the rewards of the relay program when shattering the 24-year record.

Joining forces ahead of the 2024 World Athletics Relay Championships to be held in the Bahamas this May –  a vital Paris Olympic-qualifying opportunity –  the team anchored by Australia’s fastest woman Lewis delivered a breakthrough run.

“I think we were all hoping to get the record but all we wanted tonight was a clean race and for us to run our best. We all knew we could do it with the times we have been running this season,” Lewis said.

Tasked with setting the tone with a hot start, Lane delivered the perfect punch:

“Because we have been on camps and changed with so many people, we have learned to adapt and trust each person we are changing with or receiving from. As a group, not just this team but as a squad, we have a good friendship and will get it done if we trust each person.”

The junior girls followed suit with an Australian Under 20 record of their own, as Chelsea Scolyer (TAS, Greg James), Olivia Dodds (WA, Lyn Foreman), Zara Hagan (QLD, Chris Dale) and Jessica Milat (VIC, Cathy Woodruf) roared around the track in a time of 44.34 – continuing to build ahead of the 2024 World Under 20 Championships to be held in Lima, Peru.

In a messy edition of the Australian 3000m Championships for the men, teen sensation Cameron Myers (ACT, Dick Telford) stayed out of trouble when leading the field to the finish in 8:46.38, securing his maiden Open national title when bettering his own Australian Under 20 record of 7:52.06.

A fall at the bell saw back-to-back champion Jude Thomas’ hat-trick bid end early, as Callum Davies (QLD, Collis Birmingham) took silver in 7:47.33 and Edward Trippas (VIC, Craig Mottram) the bronze with 7:48.80.

Australia’s middle-distance stocks were on display as Abbey Caldwell (VIC, Gavin Burren) coasted to another sub-two minute reading of 1:59.71 to fend off national record holder Catriona Bisset (VIC, Ned Brophy-Williams), while Luke Boyes (NSW, Ben St Lawrence) beat home the men’s field in a career-best 1:45.86. 

Liz Clay (QLD, David Reid & Sharon Hannan) kept her clean sheet alive in the Chemist Warehouse Summer Season with her third consecutive win in the 100m Hurdles, but it was not without challenge from Michelle Jenneke (QLD, Bronwyn Thompson)  as the duo clocked 12.97 (0.0) – Clay prevailing by three-thousandths of a second.

Only 0.01 seconds split the top three in the Women’s 100m, with Bree Masters taking line honours in 11.29 (0.0) for her equal third fastest time, and Ebony Lane (11.30) and Naa Anang (QLD, Bronwyn Thompson, 11.31) rounding out the placings. Australia’s fastest man Rohan Browning (NSW, Andrew Murphy) clocked 10.29 (0.0) to win the Men’s 100m.

World Para Athletics Championships medallist Mali Lovell (T36, NSW, Katie Edwards & Melinda Gainsford-Taylor) continued her streak of personal bests with a 14.71 in the Women’s 100m Ambulant as she works towards her maiden Paralympic Games, while Jaydon Page (T47, ACT, Sebastian Kuzminski) was the first across the line in 11.09 (0.0) for the men.

Rounding out the sprinting action, 20-year-old Cooper Sherman (VIC, Neville Down) set a new personal best of 45.71 over 400m, while Mikeala Selaidinakos (VIC, Steve Gaffney) stopped the clock in 52.76 and Chris Mitrevski (VIC, John Boas) achieved his first eight-metre performance in the Men’s Long Jump since 2022 – recording exactly 8.00m (+0.2) on his third attempt.

The Sydney Track Classic concludes the 2024 Summer Series, with athletes focussed on the Australian Athletics Championships taking place from April 11-19 in Adelaide. 

By Lachlan Moorhouse and Sascha Ryner, Athletics Australia