The National Australian Athletics Championships took over Sydney’s Olympic Park on the weekend with VIS athletes scoring medals and World Championship team selections.
One lap specialist and VIS athlete Morgan Mitchell won the 400m final by a daylight second. She took the top spot in a time of 52.08, ahead of Olivia Tauro with 53.10.
VIS athlete Luke Matthews won his second consecutive 800m title with a time of 1:46.71, narrowly defeating Joshua Ralph (NSW) by .05 of a second.
VIS athlete Isis Holt completed the women’s U20 para-athletics sprint double on day three of the Australian Athletes Championships. Holt took gold in the 200m sprint on day two with a time of 28.97, before backing it up on day three with gold in the 100m sprint.
Ryan Gregson won a hard-fought Men’s 1500m in 3:52.56 on the final day of the Championships, beating Matthew Ramsden (WA) and Will Austin-Cray (NSW) for the national title.
Olympian and VIS shot putter Damien Birkenhead took out the national shot put title with a put of 19.80m. Meanwhile VIS high jumper Joel Baden claimed gold in the high jump, clearing 2.21m to win the title.
Morgan Mitchell, Damien Birkenhead, Regan Lamble, Rhydian Cowley and Chris Erikson all scored themselves an initial selection for the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London later this year. While Isis Holt’s double saw her named in the initial selection the IAAF Para-Athletics World Championships in a few months time.
