ATHLETICS: Dani Samuels led the Australian charge on the first night of Olympic Stadium action by qualifying for the discus final. Mitchell Watt and Henry Frayne also progress to their first Olympic final. Ryan Gregson also progressed to the semi-finals of the 1500m in a good night for the Aussies.
ATHLETICS: Dani Samuels led the Australian charge on the first night of Olympic Stadium action by qualifying for the discus final. Mitchell Watt and Henry Frayne also progress to their first Olympic final. Ryan Gregson also progressed to the semi-finals of the 1500m in a good night for the Aussies. Six Aussies were in action with details below:
Women’s Discus Qualifying
Dani Samuels, 24, was the first Australian in action for the evening session of Day 7 of the Games - needing 63.00 metres for an automatic qualifier for the final. Her season best is 62.78m.
She opened her qualifying with 60.02m and fouled her second. On her third and final attempt she threw a huge 63.97m for an automatic qualifier and season best.
She told herself while preparing for her final throw 'use your legs' and it worked. The 2009 world champion is in to her second Olympic final after placing 9th at Beijing 2008 as a 20 year-old. The 12-man final takes place on Day 8.
Men’s Long Jump Qualifying
Henry Frayne and Mitchell Watt are medal hopes for Australia but first they needed to progress through qualifying in cool dry conditions. Frayne was the first athlete to jump registering 7.82 metres. Watt then fouled his first attempt. Frayne then fouled his second. Watt then posted a 7.99m noticeably making sure of his footing on the board.
With the pressure on for both young Australians, Frayne improved to 7.95m and had an anxious wait to see if that was enough for a top 12. Watt did not take his third jump knowing he had qualified. Surprisingly only Marquise Goowdin did an automatic qualifier with 8.11 metre. The 12-man final takes place on Day 8.
Women’s 100m Heats
Canberra sprinter Melissa Breen made her Olympic debut in heat six of the women’s 100m. Breen ran well for sixth place in 11.34 seconds - just outside her personal best of 11.27. The 21 year-old had a loaded heat including the defending Olympic champion
Men’s 1500m
Ryan Gregson made his Olympic debut in heat 1 of the 1500m. He needed a top six placing to automatically progress to the semi-final or have one of the sixth fastest times.
Gregson was middle of the pack for the first 1350m of the fast race before losing contact with the top six. The 22 year-old pushed hard down the final straight for ninth place in 3:38.54.
The next two heats were slower so the Wollongong runner progresses to the semi-finals.
Women's 10,000m Final
Eloise Wellings will race for Australia at 21:25 (BST).
Andrew Reid
Olympics.com.au
