Athletics Australia – News – MELBOURNE: High-flying trio to battle it out on Qantas Tour

One of the best credentialed international high jumpers ever to visit Australia will take on local stars Liam Zamel-Paez (Qld) and Brandon Starc (NSW) at the Qantas Melbourne World Challenge on Saturday 6 April with American indoor champion Dusty Jonas (USA) confirmed to compete. 

Jonas has a personal best equal to the Australian record of 2.36m set by Tim Forsyth in 1997, or just under seven feet nine inches in the old scale.

Australian Zamel-Paez is the current world leader after he soared a new personal best of 2.29m to win at the Go for 2&5 Perth Track Classic.

Staking his claim for IAAF World Championships selection in the process, the 24-year-old Commonwealth Games representative is now on track to become the first Australian since Olympic bronze medal winner Forsyth in 2000 to compete at either the Olympic Games or IAAF World Championships.

“The season for me so far has been good. The Melbourne meet and Nationals are quite close together so that will be a tough six days but I am hoping to get through Melbourne well and then focus on securing my spot on the World Championships team in Sydney,” Zamel-Paez said.

“It’s hard to quantify what I might be able to jump this year. Anything above 2.33m would be great, but from my perspective it is about finding consistency in my jumping at a height similar to what I achieved in Perth.”

Based in Brisbane (Qld), Zamel-Paez is on the comeback trail in 2013 after injury hampered much of his 2012 season. His aim is to secure his selection to the Australian Flame for the IAAF World Championships in Moscow, putting him in the ideal spot to continue through to the 2014 Commonwealth Games and hopefully the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janiero.

“The plan this year was to make sure that I got myself on the team for World Championships, and from there continue to improve across the year. My new PB won a bronze medal in London and if I can continue with that form then my dream would be to deliver something impressive in Moscow,” Zamel-Paez continued.

“What this year means in the long run is tough to define, but any opportunity on the world stage sets you up for future success. The race for a medal is always a good way to develop.”

Zamel-Paez will have stiff competition in American Jonas however who will arrive in Melbourne in stunning form.

Opening his season with a monster 2.34m leap at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational in Lincoln (USA) in February, the 26-year-old IAAF World Indoor Championships bronze medallist then won his first national title with a 2.25m leap at the American Indoor Championships in Albuquerque (USA) earlier this month.

Amazingly, Jonas’ early season success comes just twelve months after rupturing his Achilles in early 2012 forcing him out of the US Trials and the London Olympic Games.

“I’m really looking forward to competing in Australia. The last year has been such a roller coaster ride for me with serious injury, rehabilitation and now jumping high again,” Jonas said.

“I’m hearing some good things about the young guys going well down there so it will be good to provide them with a bit of a challenge to produce against international athletes on home soil. It’s going to be a great competition.”

Rounding out the high-flying trio is Target Talent Program athlete Brandon Starc (NSW), who is a Youth Olympic Games silver medallist and a top-eight performer from last year’s IAAF World Junior Championships in Barcelona (ESP).

Starc has enjoyed success this National Athletics Series at the Adelaide Track Classic and the Briggs Athletics Classic before setting a then personal best of 2.22m to win the state title at the New South Wales Championships.

Starc, who has three qualifiers for the Summer Universiade (also known as the World University Games) to be held in Kazan (RUS) later this year, was second to Zamel-Paez in Perth but his leap of 2.23m improved his career best for a second time this season.

The Qantas Melbourne World Challenge will be held at Lakeside Stadium on Saturday 6 April.

Attracting Australia’s best athletes including Mitchell Watt (Qld), Alana Boyd (Qld), Josh Ross (Vic), Jarrod Bannister (Qld) and Evan O’Hanlon (NSW), the event will also welcome international superstars Asafa Powell (JAM), the fourth fastest man in history and former 100m men’s world record holder, as well as Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford (GBR).

The Qantas Melbourne World Challenge is the only meet in Australia sanctioned by the IAAF, with the event doubling as Round 1 of the IAAF World Challenge. It is the final leg of the Qantas Australian Athletics Tour ahead of the Australian Athletics Championships in Sydney (NSW) on April 11-14.

For more information on the Qantas Melbourne World Challenge, please follow the following links for general event information, entry lists and the event timetable.

Tickets for the event are available through Ticketmaster.

 

 Athletics Australia – News