Athletics Australia – News – Beijing 2015

Competing on the track for the first time in seven years in January 2014, the 27-year-old went on to debut for the Australian Flame at last year’s Commonwealth Games. There, she advanced to the 3000m steeplechase final and narrowly missed a medal with a then personal best time of 9:34.01.

Not one to rest on her laurels, Heiner has in 2015 lowered that time on three more occasions, while also improving her quickest ever results in the 1500m, 3000m, 5000m and 10km road race.

Beijing 2015 delivers Heiner a chance to double-up, with starts in the 3000m steeplechase and 5000m scheduled. This demanding race schedule provides her with an ideal chance to showcase her hard work and determination against the best the world has to offer.

“2015 has been far more than I could have ever expected. I finished last year well and was pretty excited about trying to make the team for Beijing and I was lucky enough to tick that off pretty early with a qualifying run in the steeplechase in Melbourne,” Heiner said.

“Since then I have run consecutive personal bests in the steeple and now I’m going into this championship confident that a good run in the heat will see me through to the final. I’ve had similar success in the 5000m too. I had a breakthrough run when I was training in ‘the States’ and now have the chance to run that event in Beijing too, which is pretty incredible.

“I feel confident on the track now, and am comfortable to move to the front and take it on. That’s kind of what happened by accident in a few races in Europe this year. I have no fear in being the one who sets the race up.”

Boasting a 3000m steeplechase personal best of 9:21.56, Heiner is now within striking distance of the Australian record. Currently held by Donna MacFarlane, who also returned to athletics after a hiatus away from the track, the time is one that Heiner will need to find if she wants to challenge the leaders for a spot on the podium at the IAAF World Championships.

“The (Australian 3000m steeplechase) record is something that I have my eye on. I started to become interested in it last year when I was still quite a way off it, but now that I am within three seconds of the time I believe that I am capable of running it. I don’t know if Beijing will be the race, I think the final will be run in a time pretty similar to it, so if I am competitive then maybe it will happen there,” Heiner, who is a pharmacist, said.

Heiner will be joined in the women’s 3000m steeplechase by Victoria Mitchell (NSW) and Genevieve LaCaze (Vic), while Eloise Wellings (NSW) and Emily Brichacek (ACT) will duel alongside her in the 5000m.

Mitchell will compete at the IAAF World Championships for the first time since Osaka 2007. At the Commonwealth Games last year she placed ninth in the steeple final in a time of 9:49.05. LaCaze is the Australian 3000m steeplechase champion and she is making her world title debut at Beijing 2015. She has a personal best of 9:33.19, set at Glasgow 2014.

Wellings has reigned supreme in three half marathon events this season, including a very impressive 1:10:10 run on the Gold Coast (Qld) last month. Brichacek has a season best of 15:19.06, set at the Payton Jordan Invitational in Stanford (USA).

In the men’s steeple event, James Nipperess (NSW) will start after reaping the benefits of an invitation to compete via the IAAF Roll-Down Process. A starter at the IAAF World Cross-Country Championships in Guiyang (CHN) earlier this year, the Sydney-sider arrives in Beijing after an extended period of competition in Europe, including victory in Brussels (BEL) in late July.

Nipperess is joined in men’s events by Josh Ralph (NSW, 800m), Jeff Riseley (Vic, 800m, 1500m), Ryan Gregson (Vic, 1500m), Collis Birmingham (Vic, 5000m) and Brett Robinson (Vic, 5000m).

Ralph qualified for the IAAF World Championships with a personal best run of 1:45.79 in Ninove (BEL), while Riseley is the national 800m and 1500m champion after a stunning performance at the Australian Athletics Championships in March. Gregson, who is the Australian 1500m record holder, was added to the Australian Flame team via the IAAF Roll-Down Process.

Competing in the women’s 1500m is Melissa Duncan (Vic) and Heidi See (NSW). Duncan ran her quickest ever time of 4:05.56 at the Oslo (NOR) leg of the IAAF Diamond League in June. See, who is based in America, has been selected to an Australian team for the first time in ten years, after debuting at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Marrakech (MAR) in 2005.

The Australian Flame team for the IAAF World Championships is 45-strong, boasting 42 individual athletes and the women’s 4x400m relay. Three athletes will also compete in exhibition masters events to bring the overall squad size to 48.

The first wave of athletes arrived in the Chinese capital yesterday, with other to continue their preparation for Beijing 2015 at a team camp in Wakayama (JPN).

At the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow (RUS), Australia won three medals – two silver (Sally Pearson, Kim Mickle) and one bronze (Jared Tallent) – and scored 27 points to place 16th of 203 competing nations.

For more information on the IAAF World Championships, please click here to visit iaaf.org.

For more information on the Australian Flame, please click here to visit athletics.com.au.

For information about the Australian broadcast of the IAAF World Championships, please click here to visit athletics.com.au/broadcast.

Athletics Australia – News