This weekend in Olympic sport we saw a gymnastic quota achieved, athletics success at the Diamond League, a swag of medals for our Tokyo 2020 Paddle Team and more.
Artistic Gymnast Whitehead meets Tokyo 2020 quota
Australian Women’s Artistic Gymnast, Emily Whitehead's gold medal performance at the Oceania Continental Championships has strengthened her bid for a ticket to Tokyo.
Her victory over the weekend sees her named amongst the top of the list of contenders for the quota place.
Twenty-tw0-year-old Whitehead has previously represented Australia at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in 2018, taking out bronze in the Vault and Team Competition events.
She now awaits final confirmation from the Federation International Gymnastics for a chance to compete for Australia at the Tokyo Olympics in July.
Surfing Rottnest Search
The inaugural Rottnest Search is underway, with competitors taking on the break this week. A field of 26 men and 18 women took to Strickland Bay, 18km off the coast of Western Australia, in the last event of the Australian Championship Tour of the World Surfing League.
Homegrown talents Morgan Cibilic and Liam O’Brien are set to go head to head in the men’s quarterfinals, with Sally Fitzgibbons and Tyler Wright going head to head in the semifinals as well. Mikey and Owen Wright were knocked out in the Round of 16 in the men’s division, with seven-time tour champ, Steph Gilmore, also having her run ended in the same stage. The event is due to conclude on Wednesday, with the Championship Tour continuing on to the Surf Ranch Pro in Lemoore, California in mid-June.
Oliver Hoare bids for a spot on Tokyo 2020 Team at Gateshead Diamond League
Australian middle-distance runner Oliver Hoare has made his bid for a place on the Tokyo 2020 Australian Olympic Team after placing second in the 1500m event at Gateshead on the Diamond League Tour.
The team of three has one place remaining, with the third place up for contention. The third member will join Stewart McSweyn and Jye Edwards in Tokyo.
Hoare’s finishing time at Gateshead over the weekend saw him defeat McSweyn by 0.74 seconds, as well as two other Aussies looking for a spot on the Olympic Team, placing him at the forefront of the consideration list.
Aussie Sevens suffer defeat at Trans-Tasman 7’s
Auckland hosted the three-day-long Trans-Tasman Sevens, with the Men’s and Women’s teams playing two matches per day. Australia suffered devastating losses across the board, coming away with one win out of twelve matches. This event was the first international competition played since the Vancouver Sevens in March of 2020.
The Australian Men’s Team endured three days of losses at the Orākei Domain, while the Women’s side managed a victory in the second match on the first day, finishing with 19 to New Zealand’s 15 at full time, after losing 19-0 in the opening match.
The order of play is modelled after the official schedule of matches announced for Tokyo.
The men secured their tickets to Tokyo after a victory at the 2019 Oceania Sevens Championship, the regional qualifier event for the Games, while the women qualified at the conclusion of the 2018-19 Sevens Series.
Paddle Australia Canoe Sprint Championships
An array of Olympic representatives for Tokyo 2020 were in action at the 2021 Paddle Australia Canoe Sprint Championships over the weekend, picking up gold across the board.
Duo Riley Fitzsimmons and Jordan Wood, who competed at Rio in 2016, won the Men's K2 500, with Jean Van Der Westhuyzen and Thomas Green, who are set to make their Olympic debut in July, finishing second. Green and Van Der Westhuyzen finished first and second respectively in the Men’s Open K1 1000. Fitzsimmons, Lachlan Tame, Murray Stewart and Jordan Wood took first in the Men’s Open K4 500.
Alyce Wood, Aly Bull, Cat McArthur and Shannon Reynolds took out first, second and ninth in the Women’s K1 500. In the Women’s K2 500, 2016 Rio veterans Alyce Wood and Aly Bull finished first, in front of Jaime Roberts and Jo Brigden-Jones.
Victory in Spain for newly selected Tokyo 2020 cyclist, Brown
After her selection to the Australian Olympic Team was announced for the first time last Thursday, Grace Brown finished first in the first stage of the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas in Spain on Friday.
The Olympic debutant competes for Team BikeExchange, and finished with a time of 2:28:28, the fastest in a field of 105 women. The stage started in Villadiego and concluded 100km later, in Sargentes de la Lora, where Brown rode into first on Thursday afternoon.
Brown finished the four-day event in seventh position in the general classification, third in the final points classification and tenth in the mountains classification.
