There is a sense of tranquility before the chaos this week, as we eagerly count down the days to the 2024 Chemist Warehouse Australian Athletics Championships in Adelaide from Thursday 11th of April – Friday 19th of April.
Day-to-day, hour-to-hour, event-to-event, these Championships are set to be the most highly anticipated event on the Athletics Australia Summer Calendar. With pivotal head-to-head battles and valuable World Athletics points on the line, the intensity and pressure will be at an all-time high for those in the hunt for 2024 Olympic Games and World U20 Championship selection.
As the pinnacle of domestic competition, Athletics Victoria is set to send the deepest and strongest Victorian team on record to showcase their tremendous talent and grit. Represented in over 1200 unique event entries, Victorian track and field fans are set to witness an unforgettable championship.
Among the team to watch is teen sensation Claudia Hollingsworth, already with 3x separate event qualifications for World U20 Championships (800m,1500m & 3000m), and also has an Open 800m Olympic qualifier to her name. She won’t have it all her own way though, with two of her main challengers also hailing from Victoria – Australian Women’s 800m record holder and incumbent National Champion Catriona Bisset and Commonwealth Games bronze medalist and current Oceania 1000m record holder Abbey Caldwell. Caldwell will be attempting the dual National title of 800m and 1500m this Championships, where she will face fellow Victorian and Australian 1500m record holder Linden Hall. With both girls already claiming an auto qualifying time, it could potentially come down to line honours for who books their ticket to Paris.
With female distance running stamping it’s dominant authority in the State, so too is the Race-Walking community. Led by fan favourite and queen of the road and track, Jemima Montag. Hot off her World Athletics silver medal in Budapest, Montag will be looking to collect another National crown for her cabinet and stamp her passport to Paris. Fellow Victorian Racewalkers Rhydian Cowley and Kyle Swan, both with qualifiers in the 10000m Racewalk, will battle it out over the gruelling 25 lap event.
Jaryd Clifford will be leading the charge for our talented Para athletes also looking to lock their positions into 2024 World Athletics Championships (Kobe, Japan) & the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games. Accompanied by a World Class list of experienced athletes from previous World Para Athletics Championship medalist and representatives including Michal Burian, Maria Strong, Samuel Rizzo, Nicholas Hum & Annabelle Colman.
The championship also serves as the final opportunity for our U20 athletes to showcase their talent in front of selectors, before the final team is announced before competition in Lima, Peru. An astonishing 25 of our U20 athletes have gained a qualifying standard and will need their best performance at the championships to live out their dream of representing Australia.
All eyes will be on Jess Milat who has been running some highly impressive sprint times in the harsh Melbourne weather conditions, looking to breakout in some sunshine to claim the 100m and 200m titles. Depth in the Open Women’s 1500m is showing promising green shoots, as we have 5 young women in the U20 1500m who have all achieved the standard already (Claudia Hollingsworth, Cleo Richardson, Lucy Cleveland, Maddison King & Khushi Deol).
It is going to be action packed for 9 straight days of incredible performances and unforgettable memories for many of our Victorian athletes. For those attending, be sure to lend your support to all fellow Victorians by cheering on all those in the Big V and offering well wishes and praises for performances. For those staying in Melbourne, the meet will be streamed live and free on Seven’s digital platform, 7Plus, with eight hours of coverage per day of the meet. For more information, including the event timetable, ticketing, and live streaming details, click here.
Open Athletes to watch with Olympic Auto-Quals:
Abbey Caldwell Women’s 800m QUAL & 1500m QUAL
Claudia Hollingsworth Women’s 800m QUAL
Linden Hall Women’s 1500m QUAL
Adam Spencer Men’s 1500m QUAL
Jemima Montag Women’s 10000W QUAL
Rhydian Cowley Men’s 10000W QUAL
Kyle Swan Men’s 10000W QUAL
Catriona Bissett Women’s 800m QUAL
Lauren Ryan Women’s 10000m QUAL
Open Athletes to watch within Current World Athletics Rankings:
Ebony Lane Women’s 100m (47/48)
Brooke Buschkuehl Women’s LJ (16/32)
Yual Reath Men’s High Jump (30/32)
Ben Buckingham Men’s 3000m SC (32/36)
Chris Mitrevski Men’s Long Jump (20/32)
Lauren Ryan Women’s 5000m (28/42)
Kathryn Mitchell Women’s Javelin (16/32)
Open Athletes to watch just outside Current World Athletics Rankings:
Jess Milat Women’s 200m (71/48)
Amy Cashin Women’s 3000mSC (38/36)
Liam Cashin Men’s 3000m SC (58/36)
Celeste Mucci Women’s 100mH (51/40)
Tayleb Willis Men’s 110mH (64/40)
Joel Baden Men’s High Jump (33/32)
Aidan Hinson Men’s Triple Jump (41/32)
Emma Berg Women’s Shot Put (47/32)
Maudie Skyring Women’s 1500m (60/45)
Sarah Billings Women’s 1500m (61/45)
Jack Rayner Men’s 5000m (45/42) & 10000m (29/27)
Georgia Griffith Women’s 1500m
Marli Wilkinson Women’s 400mH
Open Para Athletes to watch with Paralympics Qualifier:
Sam McIntosh Men’s 100m T52
Reece Langdon Men’s 1500m T38
Samuel Rizzo Men’s 1500m & 5000m T54
Jaryd Clifford Men’s 5000m T12
Nicholas Hum Men’s Long Jump T20
Guy Henly Men’s Discus F37
Michal Burian Men’s Javelin F44
Annabelle Colman Women’s 1500m T20
Maria Strong Women’s Shot Put F33
Ella Hose Women’s Shot Put F37
Dayna Crees Women’s Javelin F34
Junior Athletes with World U20 Qualifier:
Frankleen Newah – Jarfoi Men’s 100m
Archer McHugh Men’s 100m
Jordan Gilbert Men’s 400m
Caleb Kilpatrick Men’s 400m
William Wong Men’s 110mH
Marcus Wakim Men’s 10000W
Riley Coughlan Men’s 10000W
Darcey Giddings Men’s Discus
Jess Milat Women’s 100m & 200m
Bella Pasquali Women’s 400m
Sophia Gregorevic Women’s 400m
Layla Watson Women’s 400m
Claudia Hollingsworth Women’s 800m, 1500m & 3000m
Declyn Tanner Women’s 800m
Cleo Richardson Women’s 800m & 1500m
Maddison King Women’s 1500m
Lucy Cleveland Women’s 1500m
Khushi Deol Women’s 1500m
Amy Bunnage Women’s 3000m & 5000m
Piper Gay Women’s 5000m
Amali Butcher Women’s 100mH
Siena Farrell Women’s 400mH
Tiana Boras Women’s Triple Jump
Xylavene Beale Women’s Shot Put & Discus
Mia Scerri Women’s Heptathlon