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Nketia claims 100m crown as Barber, Mitchell, Denny and Baden qualify for world championships – 2019 Australian Championships, 6 April

17-year-old Edward Nketia set a New Zealand junior record of 10.17 seconds in his semi-final and backed it up with a 10.22 second performance in the final to beat Australia’s top sprinters.

Edward Nketia
Edward Nketia

17-year-old Edward Nketia set a New Zealand junior record of 10.17 seconds in his semi-final and backed it up with a 10.22 second performance in the final to beat Australia’s top sprinters.

10.08 second man Rohan Browning had matched the junior during the middle stages of the race and was second in 10.28s, with Jack Hale claiming the bronze medal by one-hundredth of a second with a big dip in 10.34 seconds from defending champion Trae Williams.

Matt Denny. Photo by Casey Sims.

After a consistent season just below the 65 metre qualifier for the world championships, Matt Denny delivered on the final throw of the competition, launching the discus out to 65.28 metres.

Kelsey-Lee Barber. Photo by Casey Sims.

In a high quality javelin competition Kelsey-Lee Barber was victorious over Australian record holder Kathryn Mitchell. Barber led from the first round with a throw of 61.61m and extended the lead further in the second round (63.15m) before recording her winning throw of 63.33m in the fourth round. Mitchell threw a best of 62.78m.

Joel Baden. Photo by Casey Sims.

The absence of Brandon Starc from the high jump competition did not diminish the quality of the winning performance, with Melbourne University’s Joel Baden leaping to a new personal best of 2.30m to take the national title and book his place onto the Australian team for the World Championships in Doha.

Bendere Oboya. Photo by Casey Sims.

Bendere Oboya overcame the controversy surrounding her coach, Greg Smith, to claim the 400m national title with a run of 52.00 seconds. The performance was just outside the world championships qualifier of 51.90 seconds and came just a day after media reports that her coach had been suspended pending the outcome of an ASADA investigation.

Naa Anang. Photo by Casey Sims.

With a smile on her face long jumper Naa Anang captured the national 100m title in a new personal best of 11.32 seconds. She will attempt the rare 100m/long jump double when she takes to the runway against national record holder Brooke Stratton on the final day of competition.

Thrilling contests were on offer over both one lap and two lap races on the track. Steve Solomon showed his class to claim the 400m title from lane eight on the nine lane Sydney Olympic Park track in a time of 45.99 seconds.

In the 800m national record holder Joseph Deng would lead the field through 600m but faded to finish outside of the medals. Training partner Peter Bol held on for a narrow victory from a spirited run from Joshua Ralph, 1:46.12 to 1:46.15.

Chloe Tighe leads the 1500m final. Photo by Casey Sims.

With most of the top names in the 1500m from recent years out of action at this championships the metric mile was a wide open affair. With a strong final lap and determination down the home straight Chloe Tighe claimed her first national title with a run of 4:11.74 from Madeleine Murray (4:12.22). 

More photos from the Australian Championships are available here.

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