Brooke Stratton lead the charge for the Victorian Institute of Sport by finishing second with a jump of 6.71m at the 2018 Continental Cup in Ostrava whilst competing for Asia-Pacific.
“It was a bit of a different long jump competition than we are used to,” Stratton said.
“You couldn’t exactly go for it in any of the jumps, as you had to get that safe one out. I would have loved to have jumped a bit further but it was all I had on the day.”
Ryan Gregson impressed over the final lap in the 1500m, moving from eighth to fifth in a tactically run race to record a time of 3:40.91.
In a similar fashion, the Women’s 1500m was a tactical affair, with Linden Hall finishing fifth in 4:18.52. Reflecting on a long season, Hall is keen for her racing to come to a close in 2018.
“I was in front with about a lap to go but unfortunately a bit of fatigue set in, I have raced almost 20 1500s this year, so I think that was reflected in my legs today,” Hall said.
Genevieve LaCaze competed in the elimination 3000m where she made 2600m before being eliminated. LaCaze was content with her performance after being well under PB pace.
“I knew it would be fast, they are the top three in the world, they were the top three in the Diamond League Final last week, so coming into it I knew it was going to be quick.
“I was well under my PB pace for quite some time, so I knew if I could stay as close to the front pack as possible then I might have got lucky but it was just a bit too long for me, I lost the lead pack but it was a lot of fun,” LaCaze said.
Damien Birkinhead finished eighth in the Men’s Shot Put with a throw of 18.52m.
Team Americas won the Continental Cup for the first time with a total of 262 points, Team Europe was second with 233 pts, Team Asia-Pacific was third with 188 pts and Team Africa finished in fourth place with 142 pts.
