SA athletes Lucy Doney, Emilaya Ellis win gold and silver in triple jump at national athletics championships

For the first time in five years, SA has claimed gold and silver at a national athletics tournament after triple jumpers Lucy Doney and Emilaya Ellis finish first and second, respectively.

Lucy Doney and Emilaya Ellis won gold and silver respectively in the under-18 triple jump at the Australian Athletics Championships last month. Picture: AAP/Mark Brake

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Injuries have hampered Lucy Doney for much of her short athletics career.

The 16-year-old triple jumper’s latest setbacks included a sprained ankle at the end of last year that kept her off the track for a month, before a torn hamstring in January, which again sidelined her for a month.

But Doney got herself fit for the Australian Athletics Championships in Sydney last month and she claimed gold in the under-18 triple jump.

“After I did my ankle, I thought I had no chance of going to nationals,” Doney, Colonel Light Gardens, says.

“I didn’t want to put any pressure on myself to jump again.

“I had a goal for myself (at the nationals) and that was a distance not a podium finish.

“I wanted to jump a distance of 12.50m and I got 12.51m.

“I was really happy, it was the last jump that got me the gold.”

Lucy Doney in action at the 2019 Australian Athletics Championships. Picture: Matt Axford, Athletics SA

Doney spent almost the entire 2017 injured after suffering severe navicular bone bruising – affecting the ankles.

She made her comeback early last year and won the under-16 and under-17 Australian triple jump titles.

SA claimed the double in the under-18 triple jump.

Golden Grove teenager Emilaya Ellis won silver with 12.48m.

It was the first time in five years that SA finished in the top two positions.

Ellis, 16, has participated in about 10 junior national athletics tournaments and says each one is a learning experience.

Emilaya Ellis after winning the under-14 SA Female Athlete of the Year in 2016. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

“At any competition, you learn something new,” Ellis, a Golden Grove High School Year 11 student, says.

“There’s been countless times were I’ve been caught off guard or certain things have happened that haven’t before

“But I sort of learn from them and put that towards new competitions.

“It was so cool to have SA finish first and second because it’s typically the eastern states that win that.

“It’s also really good competition for each other, Lucy and I push each other in our own state competitions, too, so it’s not too much of a big jump when we go interstate.”

Doney and Ellis will represent Australia at the Oceania Area Championships in Townsville in June.