Owusu and Carli shine in Darwin; Hull and Patterson fifth in China

New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) triple jumper Desleigh Owusu has continued her winning ways on the fifth and final day of Australian action at the 2026 Oceania Athletics Championships, where Sarah Carli landed her third consecutive hurdles title in Darwin’s trying conditions.

Triple jumping trailblazer Owusu (NSW, Andrew Murphy) put the event to bed in the opening round with a 13.64m (+2.1) leap to stamp her authority over the field, also producing a wind-legal jump of 13.56m (+1.6) in the fifth round.

“The track is super bouncy. I really like it, I wish we could compete here every day!” Owusu said.

“My preparation was a bit rocky, I hurt my hammy the week after Nationals but we got there in the end. I hoped to jump better but I’m happy with the seasons best.

“Fingers crossed for the Commonwealth Games! It would be an amazing experience and another opportunity to jump 14-metres.”

18-year-old Izobelle Louison-Roe (NSW, Karen Roe) saved her best for last with 13.32m (+1.8) in the final round to overtake Tiana Boras (VIC, Alwyn Jones), who equalled her personal best of 13.30m (+1.8) for the first time since winning bronze at the 2022 World Athletics Under 20 Championships.

Leading the 400m hurdles action was Olympian Sarah Carli (NSW,IS Abbie Taddeo) who was forced to earn her third straight Oceania title, clocking 55.33-seconds to take down silver medallist Alanah Yukich (WA, Rose Monday) in a time of 56.12.

Carli was a popular winner, as junior athletes and fans flocked to the fence post-race.

“The 400m hurdles is getting really popular now and there have been some great battles through the season, so it’s been good to have more eyes on the event,” Carli said.

“I got home from the Olympics in 2024 and I had ticked a lot of career boxes, so I just decided that from now on it’s about having fun and sharing it with everyone. I’m saying yes to everything.”

The Men’s 400m Hurdles was won by Matthew Hunt (NSW, Ben Liddy) in 49.77-seconds, as the 20-year-old composed himself in the messy race which saw Hunt hit a series of hurdles and pre-race favourite Ashley Moloney (QLD, Andrew Iselin) steer off the track at halfway.

Hunt’s win backed up his personal best of 49.33-seconds in the heats, while Kyle Bennett (QLD, Sharon Dale) clinched silver in a time of 50.18.

The Women’s Shot Put rounded out proceedings, as Emma Berg (VIC, Ashley Kovacs) threw 16.16m to add her first Oceania title to her collection which includes six Australian titles.

In the junior ranks, Ela Uzun (VIC, Ece Uzun) impressed when claiming the Under 18 Girls 5000m Race Walk title at just 15-years-old, stopping the clock in a slick 23:35.32.

The Oceania Athletics Championships are being at Darwin’s Arafura Stadium from May 18-23, with today’s action rounding out the Open, Under 18 and Para-athletics for which Australian athletes were officially selected for.

Meanwhile, NSWIS scholarship holder Jessica Hull finished fifth in the 1500m event at the Diamond League in Xiamen, China. Fellow Aussie Abbey Caldwell (VIC, Gavin Burren) ran a tactically perfect race, winning with a time of 3:57.26 in very humid conditions.

Another strong performance came from high jumper Eleanor Patterson (NSWIS) who placed fifth in her first Diamond League for the year.

In a quality competition, Patterson jumped 1.94m before failing at the next height of 1.97m. The competition was won by Ukrainian jumper Yulia Levchenko, who cleared 1.99m for another big win.

Full Oceania results can be found HERE.

By Lachlan Moorhouse & Luke Dennehy Australian Athletics