Australia’s BMX racing might was on full display to close out a highly successful World Cup season and Hannah Green lifted her fifth LPGA Tour title in Los Angeles to highlight the weekend in Olympic sport.
Cycling - BMX Racing – Aussie lineup dominates World Cup titles
A strong group of Aussie BMX racers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA have capped off a remarkable World Cup season. After six rounds of racing, all four individual overall World Cup titles went to Australians Saya Sakakibara in the women’s elite, Izaac Kennedy in the men’s elite, Teya Rufus in the women’s U23 and Oli Moran in the men’s U23.
Saya came into the weekend leading the rankings and closed out the season by winning rounds 5 and 6 in Tulsa. The 25-year-old won four of the six rounds this season across New Zealand and Tulsa, with two second-place finishes in Brisbane.
Izaac Kennedy was the runner up in rounds five and six on the weekend to successfully unseat Cedric Butti (SUI) from top spot in the standings. It concludes a stellar season for Izaac, who in February won his first career World Cup round in Brisbane two weeks after returning from a ruptured ACL.
18-year-old Teya Rufus won four of the six women’s U23 World Cup rounds, including both in Tulsa, to run away with the title. Oli ended his season with wins in rounds four and six to clinch the title. Next up will be the 2024 World Championships in Rock Hill, South Carolina, USA from 12th – 18th May.
Golf – Trophies hoisted in Los Angeles and Adelaide by shining Aussies
LPGA Los Angeles Championship
Toyko 2020 Olympian Hannah Green has won her fifth LPGA Tour event, sucessfully defending her title at the LA Championship over the weekend.
The world no.17 started the final round at seven-under, then posted a final round five-under 66 to finish three strokes clear of second place, Sweden's Maja Stark.
Grace Kim placed T-25 (one-under), Sarah Kemp T-39 (one-over) and Karis Davidson T-57 (+3).
LIV Adelaide
Cam Smith, Marc Leishman, Matt Jones and Lucas Herbert have come together as Team Ripper GC to win their first LIV Adelaide championship.
After three rounds they couldn’t be separated from Team Stinger GC (Louis Oosthuizen, Dean Burmester, Branden Grace, Charl Schwartzel), for which Cam and Marc went into a two-man aggregate sudden-death playoff against Oosthuizen and Burmester.
All four recorded par on the fist hole, but Marc’s par on the second playoff hole (par-4 18th) secured the win after Cam, Oosthuizen and Burmester each posted a bogey.
Judo – Olympians net gold and silver at continental championships
Katharina Haecker has defended her Pan-American and Oceania champion title in Rio, Brazil, taking out the championships for the third consecutive year.
The dual Olympian defeated the host nation’s Nauana Silva in the women’s 63kg final. World no.10 Aoife Coughlan won silver in the women’s 70kg division for the second-consecutive year, only behind Maria Perez of Puerto Rico for the gold.
The results also provided crucial points for the Olympic rankings list ahead of Paris 2024. The top 17 judokas (one per country) in each weight class at the end of the qualifying period on the 23rd of June will secure spots for the Paris 2024 Summer Games.
Athletics – Diamond League silver sets up big year for Mackenzie Little
World Championships bronze medallist Mackenzie Little has strengthened her claim as a javelin throw Olympic contender in 2024 with silver at the Suzhou Diamond League over the weekend, while Australian 5000m champion Rose Davies ran a Paris Olympic qualifying time.
Mackenzie threw a season’s best of 62.12m, only to be outdone by only reigning world champion Haruka Kitaguchi (JPN) with 62.97m at the second meeting of the 2024 Diamond League series. The Aussie remained in the lead until the sixth and final round until Kitaguchi’s clutch throw.
"I'm happy to come out tonight and perform as I did because I have a sneaking suspicion that most of these girls will be in the Olympic final," Mackenzie said.
"I wanted to beat them! To throw 60m straight off the plane is my baseline, I know I can do that. That is plan A and that is really encouraging."
Australian women’s 5000m champion Rose Davies finished 11th in a time of 14:47.78 and beat the standard set for Paris 2024 Olympic qualifying (14:52.00).
Sailing – Silver for Wearn and Morris in France
Australian sailors battled through challenging conditions to secure two silver medals at French Olympic Week in Hyeres.
Matt Wearn was denied an opportunity to improve on his silver medal position, with the ILCA7 double points race being cancelled and only a point separating him from top spot.
Grae Morris entered the iQFOiL men’s final in first overall and went on to finish with the silver medal.
Breiana Whitehead claimed fifth in the women’s formula kite racing, Laura Harding and Annie Wilmot 5th and Olivia Price and Evie Haseldine 7th in 49erFX, Jim Colley and Shaun Connor 10th in 49er, Mara Stransky 5th in ILCA 6 plus Nia Jerwood and Conor Nicholas 10th in the mixed 470.
Hockey – Hockeyroos win Perth festival finale against Japan
The Hockeyroos are taking good form to the next stage of their Olympic preparation with a triumphant 3-0 win over Japan, to close out the Perth International Festival of Hockey.
Fans packed out the grandstand and lined the grass banks at Perth Hockey Stadium to see the Hockeyroos in action one last time on home soil before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
It was also a celebration for Hockeyroos goalkeeper Jocelyn Bartram, who brought up her 100th appearance for Australia with family and friends watching on in the stands.
“I just feel so grateful for every game I've got to play, to finally reach a hundred is something amazing,” Jocelyn said.
The Hockeyroos Olympic campaign continues in Europe next month when they take on Belgium, Great Britain, Argentina and Germany in the next round of the FIH Pro League.
Fencing – Top 5s at continental qualifier just short of Paris 2024 quotas
Six Aussie fencers took to the piste in Dubai in their final chance to earn quotas for the Paris 2024 Games.
Needing to win their events to earn a quota, the Aussie competed well, with a 3rd place by Veronika Vasileva in women’s sabre the team’s highest finish.
Joseph Glassons finished 5th in men’s foil, Evelyn Halls 6th in women’s epee, with Sophia Glasson and Lachlan Crook both finishing ninth in the women’s foil and men’s epee respectively.
Shooting – Skeet shooters compete in Doha
Four Aussie skeet shooters competed in Doha, Qatar as part of the Skeet Olympic Qualifying Tournament with Paris 2024 quota spots on the line.
Aislin Jones was the best placed Aussie, finishing in 27th position with a total of 115 points after five rounds and just four points away from competing in the finals qualifiers.
Laura Coles finished in 49th place with a total of 110 points whilst teammate Brittany Melbourne scored 107 points in total, landing her in 61st place.
In the men’s skeet, Joshua Bell was the sole Aussie representative, finishing in 63rd position with a total of 117 points.
Badminton – Falcons go down to Thailand
The Falcons took to the international stage playing against Thailand at the Chengdu Cup.
Tiffany Ho, Sydney Tjonadi and Isabella Yan each competed in the women’s singles whilst the pairs of Setyana Mapasa/Angela Yu and Gronya Somerville/Kaitlyn Ea competed in the women’s pairs. The Falcons were defeated 5-0 by Thailand and will return to the international stage today (Monday 28 April) against Chinese Taipei for the second match of the group stage.
In the men’s Shrey Dhand, Jack Yu and Ricky Tang competed in the men’s singles whilst Huaidong Tang/Rayne Wang and Jacob Schueler/Kenneth Choo competed in the men’s doubles. The team showed strong form against Korea during their second match of the Thomas Cup but were defeated 5-0. They will go up against the Canadian side for the next round of the group stage on Tuesday 29 April at 11:30am AEST.
Archery – Tiebreakers at World Cup 1
The first World Cup of the international archery season has finished with the Australian Recurve teams showcasing their aim in the mixed teams, teams and individual matchplay events.
Sarah Haywood and Peter Boukouvalis competed together in the mixed teams event winning the first set, however faced a tough Chinese Taipei team in the second set, ultimately falling 2-6.
In the individual matchplay, Peter put up a strong performance narrowly losing 4-6 to the strong Chinese side, whilst Sarah took the 6-0 win over the 7th seeded Korean side.
In the men’s teams event, archers Ryan Tyack, Peter Boukouvalis and Jai Crawley began their matches with a solid 6-2 win over The Netherlands, but then faced the home team of China, going down 5-1.
The women’s team of Laura Paeglis, Sarah Haywood and Kim Lavender pushed their Chinese Taipei opponents to a tiebreaker, but ultimately succumbed 4-5.
The second archery World Cup is scheduled for 21-26 May in South Korea.
