When it comes to Athletics, Australia have never been at the top of the tree on the global stage, but a Commonwealth Games on home soil gives some of the nation’s superstars a chance to shine.
At the 2018 Games on the Gold Coast, Australia will send their second biggest team in hitory, with 109 athletes listed to compete on the track, field and marathons. The only time the nation had a bigger team was at the 2006 Melbourne Games, yielding 41 medals, with 16 of them gold.
At Glasgow in 2014, Australia won eight gold, a silver and three bronze, and there are high hopes that number will be well and truly eclipsed this year.
So, who are the big medal chances?
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Rohan Browning (men’s 100m)
Browning will be by no means a gold medal favourite on the Gold Coast, but the 20-year-old put in a surprise performance at the trials in February, running a personal best time of 10.2 seconds to qualify.
He lost out in the final to Trae Williams, but the youngster will be hoping to better his performance at the Games.
Browning has often competed directly with Jack Hale throughout the juniors, who, before his injury leading up to the Games, was one of Australia’s best medal chances.
Riley Day (women’s 200m)
Day is, without doubt, Australia’s fastest female sprinter. She ran a time of 22.93 to become national champion in February, which was almost a full second improvement on the time she ran in the heats of the 2017 World Championships.
Had she have run 22.93 at the World Championships, it would have placed her ninth at the end of the heats, qualifying for the semi-finals.
Her improvement over those 12 months has been rapid and if she can run a personal best on the Gold Coast, a medal is a near certainty.
(AAP Image/Jeremy Ng)
Matthew Denny (men’s Discus, Hammer Throw)
A former youth world champion in the discus and bronze medalist in the hammer throw, Denny hasn’t had his career rise to the same heights it appeared destined to during 2013.
The 21-year-old still has plenty of time on his side though and after becoming 2017 national champion by a significant distance in both diciplines, he will lead the Aussie charge for a medal in the two throwing events.
Whether he can compete with the best of the Commonwealth is another story, but his personal best’s suggest he will be there and abouts.
Kurt Fearnley (men’s para-sport T54 Marathon, T54 1500m)
When it comes to Australian para-sport athletes, few have had more distinguished careers than Fearnley.
This will be Fearnley’s third and likely final Commonwealth Games. He has had plenty of success in the 1500-metre event at the Commonwealth Games.
At Galsgow in 2014, he won the silver medal, but stretching back to Delhi in 2010, he took gold in the event and will be aiming to do the same on home soil.
This is the first time a para-sport marathon will be contested at the Commonwealth Games, but at the Paralympics, Fearnley has two gold, a silver and a bronze already to his name.
Michelle Jenneke (women’s 100m hurdles)
Jenneke might have shot to fame for her famous pre-race dance, but she has plenty of potential on the track, most of which hasn’t been fulfilled yet.
While she has been national champion in the 100-metre hurdles, she hasn’t performed on the global stage since she won gold at the 2010 Oceania Youth Championships and a silver at the Youth Olympics in the same year.
She finished fifth in 2014 Commonwealth Games, but failed to get out of the heats at the 2016 Olympics.
Now, handed a chance in the team at the Commonwealth Games, she will be aiming high, and if she lives up to her potential, it could be a medal alongside another Aussie by the name of Sally Pearson (more on her shortly).
Luke Mathews (men’s 800m, 1500m)
Selected to represent Australia in both the mid-range distance track events at the 2016 Olympics, the then 20-year-old Matthews failed to get out of the heats, but has improved out of sight since and is every chance of causing an upset on the track.
His 800-metre personal best of 1.45.16 is the fastest time by an Aussie in nearly 35 years and would have ran him in third spot at the recent World Championships.
Sally Pearson (women’s 100m hurdles)
If Jenneke is yet to fulfil potential in the hurdles, Pearson has been there and done that. She is undoubtedly the golden girl of the Australian track team and also happens to be reigning world champion in the discipline.
She also won the World Championships event in 2011 and has an Olympic gold medal to her name after taking victory at London in 2012.
If all that’s not enough, Pearson has two straight gold medals at the Commonwealth Games after winning the hurdles at both Delhi and Glasgow.
Unfortunately, she is in a race against the clock to be fit for the Gold Coast, with an achilles stopping her preparations in their tracks.
(AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)
Michael Shelley (men’s Marathon)
Shelley is out to back up his 2014 Glasgow gold medal in the marathon when he ran a then personal best time of 2 hours, 11 minutes and 15 seconds, winning the race by just 43 seconds.
That followed a silver medal in Delhi during 2010.
He will again have to contend with some of the best runners in the world such as Kenyan World Champion Geoffrey Kirui, but having not run in the 2017 World Championships, it’s hard to get a gague on exactly where his form will be heading into the Gold Coast.
If he can reproduce the efforts of Glasgow on roads he should know well with home advantage, Shelley will be in line for a third straight Commonwealth Games medal.
Dani Stevens (women’s Discus)
Stevens is one of the best discus throwers in the world and came within 70 centimetres of winning the gold medal at the 2017 World Championships, instead having to settle for a silver. Now, without Croatian Sandra Perković in her way, Stevens will enter the Gold Coast as a favourite.
She is the reigning Commonwealth Games gold medalist in the event and narrowly missed out on a medal at the 2014 Olympics.
Trae Williams (men’s 100m)
Another one of Australia’s young sprinting brigade, the 20-year-old is the current Australian national champion in the men’s 100-metre sprint.
In that race, he ran a time of 10.10 seconds, making him the fourth fastest Australian in history. He has a bronze medal to his name in the Youth Olympics, and running a time like that at the Games would leave him in good stead for shot at a medal.
(AAP Image/Darren England)
4×100 relay teams
And, to round out the medal chances, it would be silly to not look at our 4×100-metre relay teams.
Starting with the men, and the team will be led by Browning and Williams, who have already been discussed above.
The X-Factor for the team will be provided by Jack Hale. One of the best up and coming sprinters in the country, Hale controversially missed out on a spot in the blue-ribband event after hurting his hamstring at the selection trials.
He was supposed to carry the athletics’ biggest hopes at the Games, but is now resigned to helping secure a medal in the relay. The final spot in the team will go to either Alex Hartmann or Joshua Clarke, who will also run the 100-metres.
The women’s team is led by Sally Pearson, but she has backup from national champion Day, Maddie Coates, along with Melissa Breen and Brianna Beahan. Pearson and Day will need incredible runs if the Aussies are to win, but they are a solid chance at running the final, and from there, anything is possible.
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