Australian race walker Jemima Montag (© Getty Images)
Jemima Montag may have been the last athlete to arrive in Mackay for the Oceania Championships, but she was the first to finish as she took the gold medal in the women’s 10,000m race walk on the third day of competition on Thursday (9).
The sixth-place finisher in last year’s Tokyo Olympic Games 20km did not arrive until 11pm on race eve. After an abbreviated night’s sleep she was back at the Aquatic and Recreation Centre track for a 9:45am start to her event. Undeterred, she raced away to a 44:18.86 victory, over a minute ahead of another Australian, Rebecca Henderson.
Montag said she used the salutary experience of a disappointing performance at the World Athletics Race Walking Tour in La Coruna – where she received three red cards, took a time penalty and ultimately recorded a DNF – to challenge herself in Mackay.
“We raced in Spain 48 hours after landing, jetlagged and I had a bit of tonsilitis and I was preparing for exams," she said. "So today, I flew in 11pm the night before so just sort of challenging myself to adapt and still switch on and race regardless.”
Montag sat two university exams this week, one on Monday and another on Wednesday. As well as her late-night arrival and early start, Montag said she wanted to help Henderson chase the selection standard for next month’s Commonwealth Games where the race walks will also be contested as a track 10,000m. She walked with Henderson early in the race and then went “a little faster over the last few kilometres.”
A blustery tailwind was blowing down the main straight on the third day of the championships (the last day for the open events). Hurdlers Celeste Mucci and Nicholas Hough found the favourable conditions a mixed blessing.
Mucci had an excessive 3.3m/s tailwind as she raced to a 12.75 clocking in the women’s 100m hurdles, but Hough had a legal 1.7m/s at his back some half an hour later as he ran 13.43, his fastest time in four years, to win the men’s 110m hurdles.
Mucci led Michelle Jenneke (12.95w) and Abbie Taddeo (13.05w) across the line. Although her time will be adjusted for rankings purposes, the boost in points for the championship win will increase her chances of getting into the World Championships.
“I just honestly wanted to get the win and the time on top of that was great," she said. "(It’s) so important for the ranking, especially going into World Championships and Commonwealth Games.”
Mucci said she felt the assistance of the tailwind but had it been legal believed she would still have run sub-13.
No such angst for Hough, whose 13.43 and area championships bonus points will count at full face value.
“I take from that, that I’m competitive on the world stage after being in lockdown for a couple of months, with no races before it, so hopefully with better preparation this year, I should be able to match it with the best in the world,” said Hough.
Again, Hough will probably be relying on being high enough among the non-qualified athletes to make the field for Oregon. A semifinalist in Doha three years ago, he will be aiming for a spot in the final should he be there.
Hosts edge New Zealand in relays but Fiji produces the shock
After Australia had swept the men’s sprints in the first two days, winning the 100m, 200m and 400m, and New Zealand had done likewise in women’s competition, Australia won two of the relays to claim a narrow edge overall.
The hosts won the women’s 4x100m from a Kiwi quartet that was without the individual gold medallists from the 100m (Zoe Hobbs) and 200m (Georgia Hulls) and also took the men’s 4x400m. Hulls did run the 4x400m, however, helping Camryn Smart, individual 400m winner Rosie Elliott and silver medallist Izzy Neal to victory.
The men’s 4x100m provided the boil-over. The race was ‘won’ by an Australia ‘B’ team after the hotly-favoured ‘A’ team failed to get the baton around. As the ‘A’ team was the official Australian entry, the gold medal instead went to Fiji who, after a race-long battle, were second across the line, a metre or so ahead of Papua New Guinea.
There was another late shock in the women’s hammer throw, the last event to finish on day three. New Zealand’s Lauren Bruce, the Oceania record-holder with 74.61m and winner of her national title this year with 73.34m, looked to have a comfortable cushion over her teammate Nicole Bradley and Australia’s Alex Hulley, even taking their respective PBs of 70.45m and 70.55m into account.
Bruce’s modest opener of 67.90m stood up for the first three rounds, but Bradley produced 67.99m in the fourth round to take a narrow lead. Neither thrower could improve with their final two throws so victory went to Bradley. Hulley was third with a best of 67.11m.
Len Johnson for World Athletics
