Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ)
On a cold, wet Glasgow night at Scotstoun Stadium, two Australian sprinters, Torrie Lewis and Lachlan Kennedy, set new national records for the 100 metres.
Lewis won bronze in a time of 10.9 seconds in the women’s 100m. New Zealand’s Zoe Hobbs won gold, just ahead of England’s Amy Hunt.
Kennedy dipped under 10 seconds in the men’s race, breaking Patrick Johnson’s national record of 9.93s to claim silver in 9.85s. Emmanuel Eseme from Cameroon won gold in 9.83s.
The two records complemented several other results in possibly Australia’s greatest one-day athletics performance in recent memory:
- Eleanor Patterson and Nicola Olyslagers won gold and silver in the high jump
- Ky Robinson produced a brilliant race to win gold in the 10,000m
- Lara Roberts took bronze in the hammer throw.
How is Australia now producing some of the world’s premier athletes in these events?
A golden age of Australian sprinting?
While the prodigiously talented Gout Gout has captured much media attention in the past year or so, Australia boasts a much deeper pool of talent than just one phenomenally exciting Brisbane sprinter (who chose to miss the Commonwealth Games to focus instead on the world under-20 championships).
Read more:
Step length, a devastating finish and ‘springs in his spikes’: the science behind Gout Gout’s speed
The men’s 100m final at the Commonwealth Games didn’t just include Kennedy either – compatriot Edward Nketia ran 10.06s. It was the first time since 1982 two Australian men had featured in the 100m final.
After the race, and having watched Lewis claim bronze in a new national record, Kennedy said:
Aussie track is clearly in, I think, the best spot it’s ever been and our team is so strong. We’re in a real golden age with a lot of youngsters and a lot of good veteran talent as well.
Kennedy is right – this is a golden age in Australian athletics, and while we’ve not produced that many Olympic gold medallists in athletics over the years, some world-class athletes have worn the green and gold.
Think back to the legendary Betty Cuthbert, who won four Olympic gold medals in four different sprinting events in 1956–64.
Then came Raelene Boyle, who won three silver Olympic medals, while more recently of course Cathy Freeman lit up the Sydney 2000 games by taking gold in the 400m.
Historically, though, Australians have fared much better in swimming than athletics.
That may be about to change.
A wave that must be ridden
Talent in sport does seem to come in waves, and there certainly is an impressive wave of track and field talent coming through right now.
Athletics now needs to ride this wave for as long as possible.
And it’s not just sprinting – it’s our middle-distance runners, walkers, pole vaulters, high jumpers and throwers who are emerging as true medal contenders at major events too.
These results are a sign to all our athletes that Australians can compete at that level.
When you’re in a cohort that features successful athletes, it makes others strive for even more success. You can pick their brains at training, speak with their coaches, watch how they perform and so forth.
There’s rarely a lone wolf who reaches the top – there’s always a group working together and pushing each other, which builds belief in the environment and the system.
This has been happening for several years and the results are now starting to show.
The support behind the success
A key element of this success has been the significant increase in funding from Athletics Australia’s National Athlete Support Structure, through the Australian Sports Commission.
This dedicated funding aims to identify elite and emerging athletes who have the greatest potential to achieve success at Olympic and Paralympic games, world championships and Commonwealth Games.
It even helps previously underfunded events such as the relays program.
We’ve never had support like this before, especially for athletes in the relays. It means some athletes can stop working part-time and concentrate fully on their events: it’s obvious someone is more likely to improve if they can devote full attention to it.
As the Commonwealth Games continue, keep an eye on on these relay events, which should display Australia’s significant depth in sprinting talent. Barring disasters, Australia should be genuine medal chances in most of the relays.
Cliff Mallett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.