RITV Summer Series: Australian Athletics on the rise – Gout Gout… and en more!

 

 

Image: Wikipedia

 

Late last year when I named the Olympic pole vault champion Nina Kennedy as the Rabbit in the Vineyard Performance of the Year, understandably, I received comment about the young sprint prodigy Gout Gout.

I was fortunate to be at QSAC in Brisbane with the South Australian team for the Australian schools’ championships and saw that amazing race where Gout broke the storied (think Mexico City 1968, Black Power Salute) national 200m record of the late Peter Norman.

Experts, including the voice of athletics Bruce McAvaney, are predicting a very successful era in Australian athletics.

Here is a list of ten more rising Australian athletes. Remember these names:

 

Calab Law: 200m, Australian record holder 4x100m relay

Calab is a fluent 200m runner from the outskirts of Caboolture, north of Brisbane. He ran the 4x100m at the Paris Olympics, where the Australian team broke the national record.

In 2022, he competed in both the world U/20 championships in Columbia, winning a bronze medal in the 200m, as well as the world (senior) championships in Oregon.

 

Torrie Lewis: Australian 60m and 100m record holder

A former gymnast who moved to Brisbane and graduated from St Peters Lutheran College in 2022. World U/20 championships 200m silver medallist before representing Australia in Paris.

Has moved to the Netherlands to train alongside some of the best female sprinters in the world.

 

Cam Myers: middle distance gun

Cam breaks records regularly, as recently as earlier this week in an indoor meet in Boston (the Australian U/20 3000m record). The world took more notice when he broke Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s age group records in the 1500m, mile, and 3000m.

His silver medal in the 1500m at the 2024 world U/20 championships was one of the fourteen the Australian team won. Only the USA team went home from South America with more medals.

 

Claudia Hollinsworth: 800m

Claudia is a super talented young lady: national 800m champion, represented Australia at the 2022 world championships, as well as the world U/20 championships. Last year, she won silver at the world U/20 championships, as well as representing Australia in Paris.

 

Reece Holder: 400m

Another Queenslander, Reece is a rapidly improving 400m runner, who recently ran a very impressive 20.48secs over 200m in Canberra.

Following the recent success of both the men’s and women’s 4x100m relay squads, the men’s 4x400m is looking to undergo a similar resurgence.

 

Alanah Yukich: 400m hurdles

Olympic semi-finalist in Paris after this incredible journey chasing the qualifying standard. Alanah, a graduate of the University of Texas, ran three races in three days in three different countries: Spain, Switzerland and Poland in a determined bid to become an Olympian.

 

 Lachlan Kennedy: Australian 60m record holder, ranked number one in the world.

Ran a scintillating first leg of the Australian 4x100m relay in Paris as the team broke the national record. Recently in Canberra Lachie ran 6.43 seconds in the 60m, qualifying for the world indoor championships in China next month.

 

 Yual Reath: high jump

Another wonderful story: gave up work as a landscaper in Ballarat to become a full-time athlete in the same event discipline as Mitchell Starc’s brother Brandon, the former Commonwealth Games champion and Olympic finalist, competes.

Yual’s best jump is 2.30m

 

Peyton Craig: 800m

Peyton was dabbling in both triathlon and swimming (as an Australian age group champion) before focusing on the 800m, where he has the well-deserved reputation of being a ‘never say die’ competitor.

Like Torrie Lewis and Claudia Hollingsworth, Peyton competed in the 2024 world U/20 championships in Peru, winning a silver medal, before representing Australia in Paris.

 

Delta Amidzovski: double world championship medallist

This multi-talented rocket from Wollongong was the youngest member of the Australian U/20 team in 2022 as a fifteen-year-old.

In the lead up to the 2024 world U/20 championships, Delta broke Olympic champion Sally Pearson’s U/18 Australian 100m hurdles record. In Lima, she won gold in the long jump, as well as bronze in the hurdles.

 

The transition from junior medallist to senior ranks can be challenging, however several of these athletes are already well on the journey as Olympians.  They have no doubt been inspired by the feats of Jess Hull, Matt Denny, Nina Kennedy, and Nicola Olyslagers, among others.

The 2025 world athletics championships will be contested in Tokyo in September. The next world U/20 championships are in Oregon during August 2026.

 

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Chaffey Brothers La Resistance! 2016 GSM

As the label states:

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Chaffey Bros Wine Co – Artisan wines from the Barossa and Eden Valleys

 

To read more by Rabbit in the Vineyard click HERE.

Russel Hansen, South Sydney football club diamond member 6199, lives in Nuriootpa, Barossa Valley, South Australia. His golden retriever, Murray, is named after the South Sydney captain. Twitter/X: @Rabbit in the Vineyard @Russel_Hansen

 

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