Nina Kennedy has set a personal best of 4.75m in the pole vault in Perth to continue her sensational early season form.
Jumping at WA interclub on Friday night, the 23-year-old bettered her personal best by 3cm to record her third Olympic qualifying standard following leaps of 4.72m and 4.70m during December. Kennedy had unsuccessful attempts at a new Australian record of 4.82m and now sits second on the Australian all-time list behind Alana Boyd’s 4.81m.
Also in fine form in Perth was Kurtis Marschall, who cleared 5.80m to record his second Olympic qualifier.
On the East Coast it was sprinters who started to set the scene for a summer of speed, with Rohan Browning and Jack Hale each recording impressive marks.
Running at Illawong in southern Sydney, Browning recorded an impressive sprint double with runs of 10.23 (-1.1) and 20.77 (0.2), while Hale ran an Australian 100 yards best on record with a run of 9.43 seconds at Landy Field in Geelong with a 2.0 m/s tailwind.
For context of Hale’s run over the obscure distance equivalent to 91.44m:
- The event was run at the Commonwealth Games until 1966
- Asafa Powell has the fastest time ever recorded, at 9.07 seconds in Ostrava, Czech Republic in 2010
- 1964 Olympian Bob Lay was the fastest Australia on record with a 9.2 second hand-timed run in 1965
- The fastest electronic time prior to Hale’s was 9.53 seconds was set by Gary Eddy in finishing fourth at the Kingston Commonwealth Games in 1966 into 0.8 m/s headwind.
@Rohan_Browning‘s 10.23 (-1.1)/20.77 (0.2) at Illawong HP meet best 1⃣ day double for a decade
▪️Matt Davies 10.23/20.54 (19/2/10)
▪️Alex Hartmann 10.27/20.59 (23/3/19)
▪️Jarrod Geddes 10.30/20.59 (22/2/14)
▪️Tim Leathart 10.24/20.71 (9/3/13)
📷left 100m, right 200#TarbyStats pic.twitter.com/3QlrGV1sIN— David Tarbotton (@David_Tarbotton) January 9, 2021
Go for 2 & 5 Program C
WA Athletics Stadium
8 January 2021
Full results
WOMEN
100m (0.5) Taylah Cruttenden 11.69
Pole Vault Nina Kennedy 4.75m (Olympic entry standard, #2 Australian all-time), Elizaveta Parnov 4.30m
MEN
100m (0.9) Aaron Bresland 10.54
3000m St Luke Graves 8:54.27
Pole Vault Kurtis Marschall 5.80m, Angus Armstrong 5.30m
Hunter Pure Performance Track Challenge
Fearnley Dawes Athletics Track, Newcastle
9 January 2021
Full results
WOMEN
100m (2.6) Grace Hewitt 11.88, Katie Smee 11.90
3000m (mix) Jenny Blundell 8:56.17
MEN
400m Tyler Gunn 47.33
Illawong High Velocity Meet 3
The Ridge Athletics Track, Sydney
9 January 2021
Full results
WOMEN
60m (1.5) Monique Quirk 7.35, Shola Adeniran 7.51
100m (0.7) Maisie Stevens 11.81, Kelly McAndrew 11.90
MEN
60m (2.7) Zach Holdsworth 6.69, Anas Abu Ganaba 6.72
100m (-1.1) Rohan Browning 10.23, Zach Holdsworth 10.56
200m (0.2) Rohan Browning 20.77
HVC Meet 2
John Landy Athletics Field, Geelong
9 January 2021
Full results
WOMEN
100 yards (1.1) Ebony Lane 10.59, Celeste Mucci 10.73, Mia Gross 10.77
200m (0.5) Sophia Fighera 23.70
Triple Jump Tiana Boras 13.02m w (2.1) [12.81m (1.6)], Chloe Grenade 13.01m w (3.5)
MEN
100 yards (2.0) Jack Hale 9.43, Jake Penny 9.54
200m (2.7) Michael Romanin 20.88, Will Johns 20.92, Dhruv Rodrigues Chico 21.04, Luke Stevens 21.27
Triple Jump Ayo Ore 16.09m w (2.1), Aiden Hinson 15.70m (1.5)
