These are the best Australian Track and Field Championship performances by South Australians
The Aussie track and field comp finished on Sunday after nine days. With SA winning 64 medals, here are the best performances from local athletes.
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The 2022 Australian Track and Field Championships completed on Sunday, with team South Australia winning 64 medals over the nine days in Sydney, the best ever effort for the state.
There were multiple headliners throughout the championships, such as 18-year-old sprinting sensation Aidan Murphy winning the open 200m, Olivia Sandery winning the under-20 race walk, and Darcy Miller winning his second consecutive under-20 discus national title.
Murphy was thrilled with his performance.
“Nationals was a huge success for me. The final win has essentially confirmed my place in the world championships and opened up new opportunities for me on and off the track,” Murphy said.
“It was more of a mental than physical battle for me – I had the talent and physical tools to win but I sometimes struggle to control my nerves and pre-race anxiety.
“I was thankfully able to overcome all of that and get a great win by reminding myself why I started doing athletics, which is because I simply enjoy running fast.”
Under-20 discus champion Miller said the positive attitude within the SA team was key to its success.
“We are all encouraged to come out and cheer on our teammates and even though we aren’t the biggest state we are one of the loudest and I feel the most encouraging and supportive,” Miller said.
“I think the past few years of SA athletics have been promising too – there have been higher involvement rates, better placings and bigger teams each year.”
With many SA champions focusing on July’s world athletic championships in Oregon, we’ve got the best performances from Sydney’s national titles.
AIDAN MURPHY (open men’s 200m)
Murphy’s performance in the open men’s 200m sprint was one of the highlights of the championships.
The 18-year-old superstar ran a time of 20.53 seconds to take gold, beating out fellow World Athletics under-20 Championship qualifier Caleb Law, who beat Murphy in the 200m in Melbourne last month.
The achievement has capped off the Saints Athletic Club phenom’s recent hot streak of form and has solidified his spot in the world championships in July.
OLIVIA SANDERY (Under-20 women’s 10,000m race walk)
Sandery won the under-20 10,000m race walk last week, just a month after competing in the world U20 race walking championships in Oman and winning silver.
The Pembroke Athletics Club star walked a meet record 45 minutes, 28.96 seconds at nationals, and qualified for the World Athletics under-20 Championships as a result.
Her dominant form looks set to continue in July.
DARCY MILLER (Under-20 men’s discus, open men’s discus)
Miller was yet another South Australian to achieve an under-20 world championships qualifier, throwing 58.12m in the under-20 men’s discus final to claim gold.
The 18-year-old from Saints Athletics Club retained his title in the process.
Miller then finished fourth in the open men’s final, just a day after Noah Schoepf threw a near state record to win the under-16 final, capping off a strong throwing tournament for SA.
MARLEY RAIKIWASA (Under-18 women’s discus, under-20 women’s discus)
Another dominant thrower at nationals, Raikiwasa won gold in both the under-18 and under-20 women’s discus finals.
The 16-year-old from Tea Tree Gully threw 47.59m in the under-20 final and followed the effort up with an improved 49.62m, in the under-18 final.
She also competed in the open women’s competition, finishing sixth with a throw of 48.07m.
ANGUS HINCKSMAN (T38 open men’s 1500m, 800m)
At just 16 years old, Hincksman produced a monster effort to come away from nationals with two medals in open events.
He won bronze in the open men’s 800m (ambulant), running two minutes and 3.80 seconds, and impressively took silver in the open men’s 1500m with a time of four minutes and 6.25 seconds.
The medals were Hincksman’s first ever at open level.
ISOBEL BATT-DOYLE (open women’s 5000m)
Tokyo Olympian Isobel Batt-Doyle fell just short of a world championship qualifying time in Sydney, producing a strong run in the open women’s 5000m final.
Regardless of the implications of her result, the champion runner from Flinders Athletic Club produced an inspired performance to finish fifth and just miss out on a medal.
Batt-Doyle’s time of 15 minutes, 10.97 seconds was 0.97 seconds out from a world championship qualification.
MATTHEW CLARKE (open men’s 3000m steeplechase)
Another Tokyo Olympian, Clarke took the open men’s 3000m steeplechase title with a time of eight minutes and 32.67 seconds.
Hills Districts Athletics Club teammate Max Stevens finished second, seven minutes behind Clarke.
The 26-year-old looks set to do big things at the world championships.
DYLAN STENSON (open 800m)
The 33-year-old Saints Athletics Club runner went up against Tokyo Olympian Peter Bol in the open 800m final and took it to the star, finishing with bronze.
Stenson’s time of one minute, 49.61 seconds gave him a dead heat finish with Jye Perrott.
RELAY DOMINANCE (U16, U18, open men’s, open women’s)
Multiple South Australian relay teams took medals at nationals.
The under-16 men’s 4 x 200 relay team took gold on Tuesday, the U18 and open men’s 4 x 100 relay teams took silver and bronze on Sunday, the open women’s 4 x 100 relay team achieved silver, and the open men’s 4 x 400 team also took silver.
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