Athletics Australia – News – Seven jumpers and two heptathletes round out World Junior team

Rounding out our event group previews as the team of 20 prepare for competition to begin at the 8^th IAAF World Youth Championships we take a look at the jumpers and combined event athletes.

Hitting the runway in the Long Jump will be Victorian Henry Smith and from New South Wales, Audrey Kyriacou.

Smith has had a brilliant season, consistently jumping out past 7.30m with his personal best 7.54 coming at the Australian Junior Championships. He also posted 7.31m at the Victorian Championships and a 7.45m at the Victorian Junior Championships.

“During training I’ve been working on run-ups, technique, holding my drive, preparing my hamstring – everything’s looking good,” said Smith. His goal here at the World Youth Championships are clear, “make it to the final.”

Jumping into a head wind at the Selection Trials in Perth, Kyriacou posted a silver medal winning performance of 5.85m, but her personal best of 6.10m came earlier this year at an Allcomers meet in Sydney.

“My training’s been going really well, I got some good jumps in before I left. My goal is first of all to make the final on a qualifying jump, not leaving it to go to top twelve, and from there on just try to do a PB and see how far I can go.”

High Jumpers Hannah Joye (Qld) and Eleanor Patterson (Vic) will represent the green and gold at these championships.

Joye has had a very consistent 2013 clearing heights of 1.74m, 1.75m, 1.76m, 1.78m twice, and at the selection trials in Perth, her personal best of 1.80m to win the silver medal.

Speaking about her preparation, Joye said, “This is my first competition overseas so I was a bit nervous before coming here but everything has been going really well, jet lag wasn’t really a problem and my body has adapted quickly.”

Patterson has had an amazing build up to Donetsk jumping at least 1.80m in every meet she had competed. She cleared 1.86 in Perth at the Australian Junior Championships to win the gold medal, twice made it over the bar at 1.85m (at the Australian Open Championships and at the pre-departure camp in Brisbane) and jumped her lifetime best of 1.87m in Hobart at the Australian All-Schools Championships in December last year.

“Training has been really good, it’s been a bit of a change over in the Ukraine but I’m settling in very well and jumping well. The first aim is to get into the final and then hopefully jump a PB.”

Three young Aussies are set to hit the Pole Vault runway with Henri Brown from Perth and ‘partners in crime’ Nina Kennedy and Emma Phillipe (WA), fresh from their trip to Mannheim (GER) for the Bauhaus Junioren Gala.

Brown will need to overcome a niggling ankle injury he sustained during the pre-departure period before Friday’s boy’s Pole Vault qualifications if he is to have his chance to compete these World Youth Championships.

Meanwhile Phillipe and Kennedy’s only real concern was making sure their poles made it from Germany to the Ukraine, both having had very impressive, consistent domestic seasons and showing some great signs in very trying conditions at the Bauhaus Junioren Gala.

Kennedy won the Selection Trials at her home track in Perth with an almighty jump (and personal best) of 4.31m – a height which places her in the top 10 on the Australian all time list – in front of Phillipe, silver, 4.00m.

“The build up has been pretty good, we’ve just started to taper and not doing to much. We did a jumping session in Germany before we left which was good. I jumped my equal PB [at the Australian Junior Championships], I’ve had the same PB for a while now so hopefully that can change over here,” said Phillipe.

And a relaxed, but optimistic Kennedy said, “We’ve been in Germany for a week or so. I haven’t really jumped high since the domestic season. I’d definitely like to jump a new PB here, 4.40 would be nice but I know that’s pushing it.”

The final two athletes to make up this impressive team of under-18 athletes are Aliyah Johnson (Qld) and Alysha Burnett (NSW) competing in the girls heptathlon.

Both athletes come into this competition having posted their personal bests earlier this season. Johnson, coached by Gary Bourne (who saw Mitchell Watt to an Olympic long jump silver medal in London last year), accumulated a score of 5459 points at the Queensland Combined Events U18 Championships in January.

Whilst Burnett, coached by Zsuzsanna Olgyay-Szabo, compiled her lifetime best of 5291 points at the NSW Combined Events U18 Championships also in January. In that competition she posted personal bests in four of the seven events – the 200m, 800m 100m hurdles and the high jump.

The two have had slightly different build-ups in there final sessions before travelling to Donetsk. “I had an easy week before leaving Australia so that was a relief, but I finished off all my technical side of things and strength. I feel prepared for my first international competition,” said Burnett.

Whereas Johnson “Mine were more of the harder sessions getting ready to come over knowing getting off the plane you wouldn’t be able to do too much.”

Sandro Bisetto, National Junior Coach for Jumps said,

“This group has been beautifully prepared by their personal coaches and the athletes are working well with the team staff over here in the Ukraine. They are all looking forward to some strong competition and hopefully they can put it together in this, their first opportunity to perform on the world stage.”

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The 2013 IAAF World Youth Championships will be held in Donetsk (UKR) between Wednesday, 10 July and Sunday, 14 July 2013. The 8th installment of the Championships, this year’s event welcomes athletes born in 1996 and 1997.

The Australian Commonwealth Games Association through the Australian Junior Commonwealth Games Squad program proudly supports the Australian team. In the last three years alone, the program has invested more than $2 million to provide access to valuable international competition experience for athletes identified by their sports as having the potential to represent Australia at future Commonwealth Games.

For more information on the 2013 IAAF World Youth Championships, including athlete profiles, meet information and regular news updates, please follow this link to the World Youth Championships sub-site at athletics.com.au.

Alternatively, to view complete entry lists and live results during the Championships please follow this link to the home page for the 2013 IAAF World Youth Championships as part of iaaf.org.

 

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