Athletics Australia – News – Harradine heaves 63.73m at FBK Games

Commonwealth champion Benn Harradine has finished fifth in the men’s discus throw at the FBK Games in Hengelo (NED) overnight, whilst in Austria World University Games bound athlete Stephen Cain has finished 17th in the Gotzis Decathlon.

Harradine’s 63.73m best mark came from his opening throw and momentarily ranked the Australian record holder third. World champion Robert Harting blew the competition wide open, however, with a world-lead throw of 68.23m to win.

“I’ve been unsure of my foot of late and just didn’t have enough trust in it to go out and chase some big throws,” Harradine said at the conclusion of competition.

“I really need a little bit of downtime to go away and get my niggles sorted so that I can begin my build up to the world champs in the best possible way.

“My rhythm has been great and at 100% fitness something big will follow.”

Elsewhere in the Dutch meet, a world-class field once again took to the line in the women's 100m hurdles and this time a different American dipped into first place as Danielle Carruthers set a meet record of 12.64. Kellie Wells finished in second, Dawn Harper third and Lolo Jones fourth.

In the men’s long jump, Irving Saladino won with a season's best jump of 8.38m, which equals Mitchell Watt's result from Sydney in March. Watt still holds onto the world-lead though, having recorded 8.44m in both Melbourne and Shanghai.

Over in Gotzis, decathlete Stephen Cain finished 17th overall with 7532 points as American Trey Hardee won in a world lead of 8689.

Cain ran a season's best in the 100m of 11.39 while his time of 51.20, in the final event of day two, saw him finish fifth in his heat of the 400m. 

Away from the track the Victorian heaved 12.98m and 41.01m in the shot put and discus throw respectively, before a clearance of 1.97 and 4.96m in the high jump and pole vault.

Closer to home at a meet in Taipei (TWN), Matt Davies has secured victory in the men's 200m after stopping the clock in a championship record time of 20.81 (w: +1.4), whilst Aaron Rouge Serret and Liam Gander have placed 2nd (10.34, w: +0.3) and 5th (10.68) respectively in the men's 100m.

Returning to the track to join open age international debutante Jake Hammond for the men's 4x100m relay, the quartet placed second behind host nation Taiwan in a time of 39.51.

Meanwhile in Wunjiang (CHN) for the third instalment of the Asian Grand Prix series, Victorian Linda Allen soared 13.82m to record her first World University Games qualifier in the women's triple jump. A two-time Australian triple jump champion, Allen's performance for 5th overall was a personal best.

With thanks to Zarah Al-Kudcy

Athletics Australia – News