Teen wins race for the ages, as Australia name first athletes for Paris

Claudia Hollingsworth turned 19 on Friday. On Sunday, she won possibly the greatest 800-metre race staged in Australia and was picked on the Australian Olympic team.

Not a bad weekend.

Hyperbole aside, the teenager kicked in the final lap to beat a national championship field deeper than any Australia has seen since the lead-in to the Sydney Olympics.

By winning her first national title in Adelaide, she compelled the selectors to select her alongside 13 others who were confirmed in the first tranche of Australia’s athletics team for the Paris Games in July and August.

Peter Bol, meanwhile cast aside the ups and downs of the past three years – from his fourth placing at the Tokyo Olympics, to being banned for the wrong interpretation of a drug test – to become an immediate inclusion on the Australian team for Paris.

Building back up from a hamstring injury, Bol was beaten to the national title by Luke Boyes. But Boyes, a 20-year-old uni student from Sydney, is yet to produce a qualifying time, so was not included alongside Bol on the team, even though it is expected he will eventually be selected.

The first 14 athletes – including four Olympic debutants – were announced by Anna Meares, chef de mission for Paris.

Eventually, the Australian team will swell to almost 70 athletes. But, for now, the depth of competition, particularly in the middle-distance running events, made it impossible for the selectors to name more than the most obvious first qualifiers.

Bona fide champions high jump Olympic silver medallist Nicola Olyslagers and world champion Eleanor Patterson were always certain to be named, as was discus thrower Matt Denny, who is now bound for his third Olympics after setting a new national record on Saturday.

Race walking world silver medallist Jemima Montag was another obvious early selection, as was 1500-metre runner Jess Hull.

World champion Nina Kennedy and fellow pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall – who won a bronze medal at the worlds – will both certainly be on the team, but have not yet satisfied the rules for early inclusion because they have not competed in enough events in the domestic season.

Hollingsworth delivered the race of the Olympic trials to hold out fellow rising star Abbey Caldwell – the 22-year-old who made the semi-final at last year’s world championships – to win the 800m.

Victorian Christopher Mitrevski wins the men’s long jump – and a place on Australian Olympic team – at the national athletics championships in Adelaide.

That pair joined 10,000m runner Lauren Ryan and Melbourne long jumper Chris Mitrevski as the debutants on the team.

Mitrevski didn’t just put down an Olympic qualifier to claim his place on the team, his 8.32-metre jump marked him as a genuine medal contender in Paris. A jump of that size would have earned a bronze medal in Tokyo three years ago, and been just four centimetres short of matching the gold-medal jump.

“I’ve known I’ve had something like that in me for a while. I think just trying to get the confidence to really be able to attack it … I had nothing to lose on that last jump,” said Mitrevski whose previous personal best was 8.21m.

“I knew I had the gold, so I just went harder than I ever have.”

The 800m race won by Hollingsworth was one of the best witnessed in Australia.

“It’s just pure elation and such a huge weight off my shoulders,” she said after storming home in one minute, 58.42 seconds.

“I’ve been thinking about this one race for so long now, and just to have it over is so exciting,” she said afterwards.

Caldwell was close behind in 1:59.01, while Olympic 400m runner Bendere Oboya, who has stepped up to the two-lap race, finished third in 1:59.03 ahead of national record holder Catriona Bisset.

“Now I can relax and really focus on the rest of the season. It’s just pure joy game,” Hollingsworth said.

“I have no idea (about the Olympic team) I don’t know what the final decision is and we might have to wait a bit longer. But if that happens it’d be insane I can’t even imagine it.”

Luke Boyes runs his way to a national title in the 800m in Adelaide, and is now on the brink of selection for Paris 2024.

Moments later, Boyes another of the sport’s emerging talents, upstaged Bol.

The 20-year-old led for most of the race, was overtaken by Bol in the home straight then kicked again to edge back in front at the line to win in 1:44.73, just 0.03 outside the qualifying mark.

Peter Bol finished second in the 800m but was selected for the Olympics.

“When I found myself (leading) I thought, ‘well, a national title is not going to come easy, so if I go down I’ll go down swinging’,” Boyes said.

”I felt absolutely horrible coming down the home straight. So I’m thinking it’s the longest 400m of my life … Pete got around me with 100m to go, and it’s kind of intimidating how smooth his shadow looks. I couldn’t see him, but I could see his shadow and it’s so effortless.

“He got in front and I thought he had it, but then – championship racing – I just found something in the last 40m, and I can’t believe the time to be honest. It’s like a 0.7 PB, and it felt like the worst race of the season.“

In the women’s high jump, Olyslagers banked the national title ahead of Patterson, who was jumping in Australia for the first time since 2018 and is gradually building her fitness after a lay-off from competition.

Olyslagers won with a jump of 2.01m then set the bar at 2.06m, seeking what would have been a huge personal best. She missed, but her third attempt was very close.

Hurdler Michelle Jenneke, who made the semi-final at the worlds last year, has been picked for her second Olympic team.

The arrival of the new generation of sprinters was confirmed in the results produced in Adelaide. While those results have not yet translated into places on the Australian Olympic team, that will follow in the months to come.

Torrie Lewis is Australia’s fastest ever woman, but she didn’t run the 100m, winning the 200m national title instead in 23.05 seconds after running 22.57 in the semi-final.

And 20-year-old talent Calab Law won the men’s 200m in 20.54 seconds.

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