NSWIS looking to light up Nitro Athletics

Seven athletes from the NSWIS are among the 42-strong Team Australia Squad for Nitro Athletics Melbourne confirmed by Athletics Australia today.

Rio 2016 Olympians Ella Nelson (pictured above, middle), Anneliese Rubie, Elloise Wellings and Michelle Jenneke have been selected alongside fellow #TeamNSWIS squad members Angus Armstrong, Nicholas Hough and rising teenage sprint sensation Rohan Browning.

Nelson is arguably Australia’s most promising sprinter, with the Sydney-sider unbeaten across 200m on home soil in 2016 before a stunning Olympic Games debut that saw her clock a personal best of 22.50 to miss the women’s 200m final by a mere 0.01 seconds.

“I was excited about Nitro Athletics after I had a chat to John (Steffensen) about it and to be named in the Team Australia Squad is awesome,” Nelson said.

“I think what got everyone excited, and curious, about Nitro was the fact that it was going to be completely different to anything we have ever seen before. A completely new challenge. It’ll be fun to compete alongside some great Australian athletes before London (the IAAF World Championships) later in the year, too. 2017 is going to be big.”

Selected from an exceptional number of more than 150 nominees, the Team Australia Squad sees an impressive collection of Australian charges announced alongside budding talent that will relish the experience of competing in the revolutionary team-based event series at Lakeside Stadium in February.

“Coming up with the 42 athletes was a real challenge. The level of interest we had to compete for the green and gold was huge and it took us a while to strike the best balance for the team from the strong pool of applications we had,” Tamsyn Manou, a member of the Nitro Athletics Team Australia Selection Panel, said.

“There’s still work to be done, too. We have to reduce this squad to the 24 competing athletes in the weeks ahead, with a pool of reserves to sit alongside them. We expect to finalise the team in early 2017.”

MEN (21):
Angus Armstrong (NSW, jumps), Rohan Browning (NSW, sprints), Cedric Dubler (Qld, sprints, hurdles, jumps), Henry Frayne (Qld, jumps), Tom Gamble (Qld, sprints), Ryan Gregson (Vic, middle distance), Jordan Gusman (ACT, middle distance), Jack Hale (Tas, sprints, jumps),Alex Hartmann (Qld, sprints), Nicholas Hough (NSW, sprints, hurdles), Fabrice Lapierre (NSW, jumps), Kurtis Marschall (SA, jumps), Luke Mathews (Vic, middle distance), Ben Offereins(ACT, sprints), Hamish Peacock (Tas, throws), Scott Reardon (ACT, para-athletics), Jeff Riseley(Vic, middle distance), Brett Robinson (Vic, middle distance), Luke Stevens (Vic, sprints), Aaron Stubbs (Qld, sprints), Jordan Williamsz (Vic, middle distance).

WOMEN (21):

Naa Anang (Qld, jumps, sprints), Zoe Buckman (Vic, middle distance), Raph Corney (Tas, pole vault), Riley Day (Qld, sprints), Linden Hall (Vic, middle distance), Michelle Jenneke(NSW, sprints, hurdles), Genevieve LaCaze (Vic, middle distance), Morgan Mitchell (Vic, sprints), Kathryn Mitchell (Vic, throws), Ella Nelson (NSW, sprints), Ella Pardy (WA, para-athletics), Liz Parnov (WA, jumps), Jessica Peris (NT, sprints), Kelsey-Lee Roberts (ACT, throws),Anneliese Rubie (NSW, sprints), Heidi See (NSW, middle distance), Brooke Stratton (Vic, jumps), Abbie Taddeo (NSW, sprints, hurdles), Christine Wearne (NSW, sprints), Eloise Wellings(NSW, middle distance), Ash Whittaker (Vic, sprints)