Athletics Australia – News – Tamsett confirms Flame selection, as St Lawrence wins Australian crown

Lara Tamsett (NSW) and Ben St Lawrence (NSW) have been crowned Australian women’s and men’s 10,000m champions at the ZATOPEK:10 at Lakeside Stadium tonight.

Second overall behind international starter Neely Spence (USA, first, 32:16.51), Tamsett (33:03.84) has excitingly ensured her selection to the Australian Flame for the 2013 IAAF World Championships after setting a new personal best and IAAF ‘B’ qualifier of 32:01.60 at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto (USA) in April.

Tamsett’s win improves on the silver medal she won in the Australian 10,000m championship two years ago, and sees her atop the podium in the event for the first time since 2008.

Linda Spencer (WA, second, third overall, 33:08.30) and Olympic marathoner Jess Trengove (SA, third, fourth overall, 33:36.77) joined Tamsett, who has represented Australia on three occasions in open age events the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, on the Australian championship dais.

St Lawrence, who is a Commonwealth Games finalist across 10,000m, becomes a three-time consecutive national champion in a time of 28:35.92, finishing second overall behind the world leader Emmanuel Bett (KEN, first, 27:59.23).

As the winner of the Selection Trial, he now needs to run an IAAF ‘B’ Standard prior to 29 July 2013 to ensure his selection for the IAAF World Championships.

Sticking on the shoulder of Bett for the opening 1500m, St Lawrence was left to battle it out for the Australian crown with Ben Moreau (GBR), Brett Robinson (Vic) and Mitchel Brown (Vic) after the Kenyan broke away to lead convincingly for the remainder of the race. He showed his class in the closing stages, however, opening a gap on his challengers to win the Australian championship gold.

The ZATOPEK:10 is the first meet on the 2012-13 National Athletics Series calendar, with world-class athletics next set to thrill Australian crowds at the Hunter Track Classic in Newcastle (NSW) on Saturday, 2 February.

Contested annually since 1961, the ZATOPEK:10 is Australia’s premier distance event. Originally conceived as the 10,000m championship for the Victorian Marathon Club, the ZATOPEK:10 was named from legendary Czech distance runner Emil Zatopek, who in Helsinki in 1952 became the only person ever to win the 5,000m, 10,000m and marathon at the one Olympics.

The ZATOPEK:10 is now one of the oldest annual races in the world, and from humble beginnings has grown to become one of the biggest events on the Australian athletics calendar.

Athletics Australia – News

To read a complete review of the Zatopek:10, please follow this link to the Athletics Victoria website.

To view and download full results, please follow this link to Athletics Victoria Live Results feed.