Canberra ignited tonight as teenage prodigy Claudia Hollingsworth moved one step closer to an Olympic debut. The 18-year-old unleashed a dominant performance in the women’s 800m at the Canberra Track Classic, clocking a stellar 1:58.81 to not only secure her maiden Olympic qualifier for Paris 2024 but also propel herself into third place on the Australian all-time list for the distance.
Photos by Fred Etter unless otherwise noted
Hollingsworth dictated the race with unwavering confidence, moving through the first lap in 58 seconds and showcasing her burgeoning talent to the delight of the crowd. This wasn’t a solo show, though. Craig Mottram coached training partner Bendere Oboya wasn’t far behind, clocking a career-best 1:59.01 to also dip under the Olympic standard in a thrilling display of Australian middle-distance running.
“It was pure joy to finish the race and celebrate with my parents and coach,” beamed Hollingsworth.
“To achieve this so early in the season and hear it announced over the loudspeaker – that was electric!”
This result marks a meteoric rise for the young athlete who graduated high school just last year and has set Australian junior records on her last three outings.
Hollingsworth and Oboya join Catriona Bisset and Abbey Caldwell as the quartet of Australian women who have already booked their tickets to Paris in the 800m, highlighting the nation’s growing strength in the middle distances.
Sarah Billings (2:00.55) clocked a PB in third while Georgia Griffith returned to a within a second of her best, with fourth in 2:00.89. The performances mean that national record holder, Bisset, who progressed overnight to the semi-final stage of the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, isn’t one of the five fastest Australian performers this domestic season.
“I was just at school as well but I hope I’m really inspiring young kids to keep coming to athletics and giving it a go themselves, and showing what you can do at a young age and never give up,” Hollingsworth said.
The afternoon meet was packed with other exciting performances.
Teenage talent Peyton Craig continued his impressive form, taking control of the men’s 800m in a roughly evenly split 1:45.91. Craig has his sights set on both the World Under 20 Championships and the Paris Olympics and has the measure of Australia’s top two lap men so far this season.
Olympian Sarah Carli kicked off her season with a strong showing in the women’s 400m hurdles, winning in 55.37 seconds ahead of Marli Wilkinson, whose 56.53s was a personal best.
Thomas Hunt had a breakthrough in the men’s race, clocking 50.33 seconds to take victory.
French athlete Sasha Zhoya impressed in the men’s 110m hurdles with a 13.50 (-0.7) clocking, while Liz Clay maintained her domestic dominance in the women’s event this season with a 13.09 (-0.2) win.
Ellie Beer went out hard in the 400m and was rewarded with a personal best in the women’s 400m with a 52.14s performance, holding off Mikeala Selaidinakos (52.62) and junior Jemma Pollard (52.97) who also clocked PBs.
The men’s one lap contest continues to build back up in depth, with four athletes breaking 46 seconds. National champion Luke Van Ratingen finished strongest to take the win in a new personal best of 45.57 seconds ahead of a resurgent Alex Beck (45.60), Nicholas Donaldson (45.76) and Olympic qualified Reece Holder (45.97).
Triple jumper Kayla Cuba continued her winning streak breaking the meet record with a leap of 13.78m.
Torrie Lewis showed strong form to win the 100m in 11.31 (+0.5) from Bree Masters (11.39), while Josh Azzopardi won the men’s race in 10.53 seconds (-0.9).
The 1500m races were missing Australia’s top contenders but nonetheless delivered good races, with Connor Whiteley (3:40.09) and Ireland’s Jodie McCann (4:14.05) taking the wins. Held in hot conditions, the 3000m steeplechase events were taken out by Ed Trippas (8:32.19) and Brielle Erbacher (10:16.21).
Photo Gallery
A photo gallery from the meet, courtesy of Fred Etter, will be added to progressively.
