SAMOA 2019: Australia won gold in every medal-event contested on day 8 of the Samoa 2019 Pacific Games.

Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Alex Hulley kicked off the golden run, winning the women’s hammer throw. Her Commonwealth Games teammate Keeley Small followed suite in the women’s 800m.

Team Aus also took a clean sweep of the men’s taekwondo, winning gold in all five weight classes that had Australian representation at the Harvest Centre today.

On the track, hammer thrower Hulley won gold with a best throw of 64.37m, 12.64m further than the next best athlete, Ellise Takosi from New Caledonia.

The 21-year-old has a silver medal from the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games, silver from the 2016 Junior World Championships, and silver from the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. Today’s victory breaks Hulley’s run of silver medals.

“I have a lot of silver medals in my room, so this gold will look good next to them,” she laughed.

However just as important as the hardware, today’s result is a big step in the right direction towards qualifying for next year’s Tokyo Olympics.

“This event is one of the most important comps that I will have as I try to qualify for Tokyo,” Hulley said.

“It’s a very high point-scoring competition for world ranking points, so placing first in this gives me a lot of points towards qualifying for Tokyo.

“Over the next 12 months I need to work on increasing the consistency of my competitions and making sure I’m throwing my best in every event - consistently around 55 metres. That would help me qualify for the Olympics.”

Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympics gold medallist Keely Small won gold convincingly in the women’s 800m in a time of 2:10.53, almost four seconds ahead of second place – PNG’s Donna Koniel.

London 2012 Olympian Steve Solomon also won his 400m heat on Tuesday morning, and his time of 46.80 is the fastest qualifying time for Wednesday’s final.

Taekwondo
Over at the Taekwondo Harvest Centre, Australia had five men fighting for the Pacific Games title, and all five came out victorious:
• Damon Cavey def. Papua New Guniea: 39-4 (-63kg)
• Tom Afonczenko def. Kiribati: 59-5 (-68kg)
• Leon Sejranovic def. Guam: 48-1 (-74kg)
• Jack Marton def. New Zealand: 40-9 (-80kg)
• Alan Salek def. Samoa: 25-22 (+87kg)

The stand out match of the day was Salek’s gold medal fight against the hometown favourite Kaino Thomsen. Thomsen took an early lead in the fight and remained out in front by a few points for the majority of the match, much to the delight of the roaring crowd.

However, the true Aussie ‘never-give-up’ spirit was evident in Salek, who landed two strong blows to the head in the final four seconds to nudge in front and take the win by three points.

“I watched Thomsen’s earlier fight and I saw him actually knock out his previous opponent, so that was in my mind going into the fight,” Salek said.

“I was sticking to my game plan, but he kept shutting me down. In the last 20 seconds I got a hit and got one point above him and then ten seconds later he got another kick and was one point above me.

“I knew I had to do something or I was going to lose. Those last four seconds felt like everything slowed down, it felt like another 30 seconds of time, and I got two kicks in those four seconds. I genuinely thought I was going to cry when that final buzzer went.”

After copping a fist to the face in his earlier fight and sporting a swollen eye for the final, Salek said today’s victory was the most memorable moment in his 12-year taekwondo career.

“I have never done anything like this before, it’s my first international comp outside of one I did in Australia a few weeks ago,” he said.

“You train for so long and to get the opportunity to represent Australia in front of that massive crowd, in that environment, with that energy, it’s just amazing.”

The 22-year-old was born with a cyst on his kidney and had his entire kidney removed when he was a baby.

“I never thought competing at this level was something I’d actually get to do. Growing up I was always told I wouldn’t be strong enough or good enough because I only had one kidney.

“But now that I have done this, it’s just the best feeling. This tournament was like the tester for me, to show me that I want to keep pushing to see how far I can go in the sport.”

Another stand-out performance came from 17-year-old Sejranovic, who only recently made the move to the senior ranks, even though he’s still young enough to be considered a junior.

The Melbournian said the jump into seniors has “been challenging,” but today’s win shows he’s making the right improvements.

“In competitions earlier this year I struggled as the competitors are a lot stronger than me,” he said.

“Technically I am quite strong, but I’ve been losing at Australian events and in Europe because I’ve been getting overpowered in clinch [a close blocking technique]. Since I got back from Europe I’ve been hitting the gym three times a week working on upper body and squats, and developing the muscles that help with clinch, which has helped my fighting a lot.

“It’s really nice to see the work paying off and to get the gold today at my first Pacific Games.”

Sailing
In the men’s Laser, Will Sargent had another strong day, placing second in all three races, as he did on the first day of racing on Monday.

The mixed Hobie Cat team of Sarah Hoffman and Thomas Dawson improved on their results from Day 1, recording a 2nd, 4th and 5th to currently sit in 5th place overall.

The pair, who usually race in the Nacra 15, only stepped into the Hobie 16 class for this regatta, and are right in the mix with the faster and more experienced crews at Samoa 2019.

Coming up on Wednesday July 17
• Sailors Will Sargent, Sarah Hoffman and Thomas Dawson enter Day 3 of racing
• Australia’s female taekwondo athletes, plus lightweight fighters Safwan Khalil and Mackenzie Singleton take to the mats.
• Steve Solomon returns to the track for the men’s 400m final and Ian Dewhurst lines up for the men’s 400m hurdles heats

olympics.com.au