The Australian 4x100m record of 38.12 set at last year’s Olympics is no more following a blistering 37.87 run at tonight’s Sydney Track Classic.
The quarter of Lachlan Kennedy, Joshua Azzopardi, Christopher Ius and Calab Law relished the warm and relatively still conditions of the meet, with swift changes around the track.
The previous record holding team included Kennedy, Azzopardi and Law, and Jacob Despard, who had duties for the second Australian team in Sydney.
“It feels pretty unreal, hey! Lachie flew around that bend and then I felt like I ran a pretty good leg and then passed the baton to Chris and I was screaming the whole way and as soon as Calab got it. I knew it was going to be a quick time, I was watching the board at the top end of the track and it came up 37.8 and it was unbelievable. We’ve been chasing that sub-38 for a while,” Azzopardi said.
The 4x100m was early in the meet with the individual 100m capping the night with Azzopardi taking victory in a wind-assisted 10.06 seconds ahead of national champion Sebastian Sultana (10.08). The 2.4 m/s tailwind thwarted personal bests for both athletes, but nonetheless amassed strong world ranking points towards Tokyo world championships qualification.
With Rohan Browning running 10.12 seconds (+1.2 m/s) earlier in the day at the Queensland Championships, the race for the national title in Perth will be red hot – and possibly requiring a sub-10 second performance for victory.
The women’s 4x100m team of Ella Connolly, Bree Rizzo, Kristie Edwards and Chloe Mannix-Power set a new meet record of 42.84s , with Edwards returning for victory in the 100m in a new personal best of 11.26 seconds (+1.0). Mannix-Power (11.41) and Harris (11.46) also recorded personal bests, with Connolly fourth in 11.48s.
Australian titles were up for grabs in the 3000m races with Georgia Griffith running to a five second victory courtesy of a 2:42 final kilometre in 8:54.02. It was Griffith’s maiden national title, with Maudie Skyring (8:59.90) and Sarah Billings (9:02.19) taking the minor places.
After a nasty fall at the bell in last year’s race, Jude Thomas made sure he wasn’t in trouble throughout, running to his third national title over the distance with a 7:49.17 clocking ahead of Callum Davies (7:50.04) and Jack Bruce (7:50.75).
Crowd favourite Peter Bol showed his class in the men’s 800m with a strong victory in 1:44.86, dragging junior Daniel Williams to a 1:45.49 personal best in second, with national champion Luke Boyes clocking 1:45.56 in third. Olympic semi-finalist and Australian junior record holder, Peyton Craig, got into trouble just after the bell, ending his chances of being in contention.
“As much as this is an individual sport, I want the boys to get faster. If they’re fast, I’m fast and it was just so good to be out here today,” Bol said.
“I’m also so proud of these guys getting times of 1:45, it shows that Australian athletics is in a real good place. I’m excited for this year and I’m excited for Australia.”
In the women’s race Claudia Hollingsworth was peerless, clocking 1:59.30 to win by almost two seconds from Jaylah Hancock-Cameron (2:01.22 PB).
Sarah Carli opened her season with a classy 54.86 second win over Olympic semi-finalist Alana Yukich (55.64s), with Alesha Bennetts setting a PB of 56.67s in third. Carli’s performance was a meet record and also bettered the track record, held by Lauren Boden in winning the 2019 Australian Championships, by one-hundredth-of-a-second.
Thomas Hunt went under 50 seconds for the first time in winning the men’s race in 49.88 from a PB to Joshua Hook (50.34).
A photo finish in the women’s 400m saw last year’s World Junior relay silver medallists Jemma Pollard and Bella Pasquali separated by just one-hundredth-of-a-second with breakthrough performances of 52.31s and 52.32s. The pair were earlier in the week named in the Australian 4x400m relay for next weekend’s World Indoor Championships, alongside Ellie Beer, Ella Connolly and Torrie Lewis.
Thomas Reynolds took victory in the men’s race in 45.75s.
Paralympic medalist Mali Lovell also broke an Australian record in the 100m T36, clocking 14.35 (+0.4) to lower her own record by 0.03s. Lovell is targeting success at the World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi, this September.
A new world record is just a legal wind away for James Turner in the 100m, with the Paralympic champion clocking a swift 11.58-seconds (+2.2) – the fastest time ever in all conditions by a T36 athlete. Paralympian Jaydon Page dipped under the 11-second barrier again with a 10.97 run, working back towards his personal best and Australian record of 10.82.
While track action dominated the meet there were solid performances in the field, with Mackenzie Little and Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Pathirage winning the javelin in 59.77m and 77.86m respectively. Connor Murphy (16.64m) and Desleigh Owusu (13.56m; a meet record) took out the triple jump, while Emily Whelan (1.85m) and Aiden Harvey (18.80m) won the high jump and shot put respectively.
The meet had a vibrant crowd, buoyed by participants in the NSW Junior Championships (the first occasion the event incorporated Little Athletics and Athletics NSW age groups into a single championships).
Photo Gallery
Over 350 photos in our gallery, which can be downloaded for free using the code you receive when you subscribe to our newsletter. Please tag @insideaths on Instagram so we can reshare your pics to our story.
