Australian wrap: Matthew Denny’s Tokyo audition as Barber struggles
Rising discus star Matthew Denny has launched a monster throw to leave his mark on the discus final — but the news wasn’t quite as impressive for the darling of the Australian team.
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Tokyo can’t come quick enough for Australia’s rising discus star Matthew Denny.
The Queenslander showed he could mix it with the world’s best throwers finishing sixth in his first world championships final.
Denny, 23, was the youngest in the field but announced himself in style, throwing a personal best 65.43m with his opening throw.
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He was unable to improve the mark in his next five throws — which included three fouls. Sweden’s Daniel Stahl won the world title with a throw of 67.59m.
“A PB is a PB but I’m still frustrated. I felt like I still could have mixed it up in the medals there,” Denny said.
“There was a metre and a bit between me and third so I’m a bit annoyed I didn’t get to reef on one throw.
“The PB is good but I still feel like I was better than that today so that’s just frustrating.”
THE NEXT FREEMAN
The Cathy Freeman comparisons have already been made and they will continue to grow after Sydney teenager Bendere Oboya’s impressive world championships debut.
Oboya showed there is substance behind the hype with a brilliant heat run, clocking a personal best 51,21sec to progress through to the 400m semi-finals.
The 19-year-old, who claimed her first national title this year, now has her sights set on Freeman’s U/20 Australian record of 51.14sec which has stood since June 1992.
With her heat run also a Tokyo Olympic qualifying time, Oboya is keen to tick off Freeman’s mark in the semi-final.
“Maybe go 51.1 (in the semi-final), that’s Cathy Freeman’s record, I really want to go for it but I don’t I’ve still got up until the end of the year,” she said.
“If I don’t get it I’m still going to take the Olympic qualifier as I’m happy to get that.”
NERVOUS TIMES FOR BARBER
A frustrated Kelsey-Lee Barber is confident she can regroup after a nervous javelin qualifying.
Barber is one of Australia’s leading medal chances given she came into Doha ranked the No.2 thrower in the world.
But she struggled through her three qualifying throws with a best of 61.08m just enough to book a spot in Wednesday morning’s final.
Barber qualified in 10th with only the top 12 progressing. China’s Huihui Lyu easily had the best throw of 67.27m.
“Frustrating is the word I’m going with at the moment,” Barber said. “I should have put more other there, I wanted to put more out there.
“I’ve been so consistent all year around that 64, 65 metre mark, I mean I threw a PB of 67. I just want to come out and show I can throw those distances at a major championships, that’s my goal.”
DISAPPOINTMENT FOR McSWEYN
King Island’s Stewart McSweyn came in with high hopes in the men’s 5000m final but left confused and disappointed.
McSweyn, who is also entered in the 1500m, looked good in the heat on Friday but after losing ground early in the final he made a mid-race move to join the leading pack but the effort was short-lived.
With six laps remaining the tall Australian hit the wall and struggled into 12th in 13min30.41sec.
Ethiopia’s Muktar Edris took gold in 12:58.85sec from his teammate Selemon Barega (12:59.70sec).
AUSSIE BEST FOR SKIPPER
Genevieve Gregson has produced Australia’s best finish in the women’s 3000m at a world championships.
In what was a hot race, the Australian team captain was left in the second half of the field early after the breakaway tactics by Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech.
Gregson stuck to her task to finish 10th in a season’s best 9min23.84.
World record holder Chepkoech clocked a new championships record of 8min57.84sec to defeat defending champion Emma Coburn (9:02.35sec).
Originally published as Australian wrap: Matthew Denny’s Tokyo audition as Barber struggles