Australia’s track cycling team has capitalised on their start to the Track Nations Cup with more medals in Hong Kong and our triathletes enjoyed a strong showing at the Oceania Championships in Tasmania to highlight the weekend in Olympic sport.
Cycling – Track – More gold for men’s team sprint crew in Hong Kong
Leigh Hoffman, Matt Richardson, Thomas Cornish and Matthew Glaetzer have recorded back-to-back men’s team sprint gold medals to start the 2024 Track Nations Cup season with their win in Hong Kong on Saturday.
Finishing the final against Japan in 42.274 seconds, they extended their margin of victory out to 0.684 seconds in the 1,000m event.
Matt Richardson also came away with a silver medal in the men’s sprint when finishing just behind Kaiya Ota (JPN) in a photo finish and Matthew Glaetzer collected silver in the men’s keirin, where Ota also won the gold.
In the men’s and women’s team pursuit both Australian teams finished fourth, represented in the men’s event by Oliver Bleddyn, Joshua Duffy, Blake Agnoletto, James Moriarty and by a young women’s group made up of Keira Will (19), Sally Carter (19), Sophie Edwards (24), Felicity Wilson-Haffenden (19).
Graeme Frislie won bronze in the men’s elimination race and also competed in the qualifying of the men's team pursuit.
Australia will head off for round three of the UCI Track Nations Cup next month to Milton, Canada from 12-14 April.
Triathlon – Golden weekend for Jaz Hedgeland at home Oceania Championships
Jaz Hedgeland and the Australian triathlon team have put on a show for the home fans in Devonport, Tasmania at the World Triathlon Oceania Sprint Championships over the weekend.
The 28-year-old Tokyo 2020 Olympian won the women’s elite event, pulling ahead of New Zealand’s silver medallist Brea Roderick and fellow Aussie bronze medallist Tara Sosinski.
In the mixed relay the quartet of Luke Willian, Tara Sosinski, Brandon Copeland and Jaz Hedgeland came away with gold for Australia.
In the men’s elite event, Luke Willian picked up the silver medal behind Dylan McCullough (NZL) and local hero Jacob Birtwhistle claimed bronze.
Artistic Gymnastics – Silver at Challenge Cup in Germany
Australia’s women’s artistic gymnastics team has achieved the silver medal at the Pokal Team Challenge Cup in Stuttgart, Germany.
The 2023 World Championships team of Georgia Godwin, Kate McDonald, Emily Whitehead, Breanna Scott and Ruby Pass were all part of the oustanding achievement, scoring 159.450 to share the podium with China’s gold medal team (162.450) and France’s bronze medal team 152.900.
Athletics – National 10,000m records fall in California
Long distance runner Lauren Ryan has broken the Australian women’s 10,000m record in an Olympic qualifying time on her way to third place at The Ten in San Juan Capistrano, California, USA.
Crossing the line in 30:35.66, she passed Benita Willis’ former Australian record time of 27:15.35.
In the men’s field, Jack Rayner beat his own Australian record to place 13th in a time of 27:09.57, surpassing his previous best of 27:15.35.
Boxing – Paris 2024 boxers tested against Brazil’s best
Eleven of Australia’s boxers selected to the Paris 2024 Olympic Team were in Canberra to host nine of Brazil’s Olympic qualified boxers at the Canberra International at the Australian Institute of Sport Combat Centre on Friday and Sunday.
Teremoana Teremoana, competing in the men’s +92kg against Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Abner Teixeira (BRA), won 4-1 on Sunday and was leading the first bout on Friday before it was abandoned.
Australia’s Tokyo 2020 Olympians Harry Garside (men’s 63.5kg) and Caitlin Parker (women’s 75kg) both had two fights for two wins via unanimous points decision against Cleisson Santos (BRA) and Beatriz Soares (BRA) respectively.
Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Callum Peters (men’s 80kg) also recorded back-to-back wins against Wanderly Pereira (BRA), 5-0 on Friday and 4-1 on Sunday. As did Tiana Echegaray (women’s 54kg) who got the better of Tatiana Chagas (BRA) 4-1 on Friday and Sunday.
Charlie Senior (men’s 57kg) was the fifth Aussie to go undefeated on Friday and Sunday, with a unanimous points decision on Friday over Ramon Conceicao (BRA) and a 3-2 split on Sunday.
On Friday night Yusuf Chothia prevailed against Michael Trindade (BRA) in the men’s 51kg on a 3-2 points decision, while Monique Suraci (women’s 50kg) won on Friday night over Caroline Almeida (BRA) 4-1 before Almeida responded with a 5-0 win on Sunday.
Tokyo 2020 Brazilian Olympian Jucielen Romeu took out Tina Rahimi (women’s 57kg) 5-0 on Friday night and backed up on Sunday in the women’s 60kg to fight Tyla McDonald to claim another unanimous points decision.
Marissa Williamson Pohlman (women’s 66kg) came up against 2023 Pan Am Games gold medallist Barbara dos Santos and lost via unanimous decision in both bouts.
Tennis – Hunter and Ebden win innaugural Indian Wells mixed doubles title
Storm Hunter and Matt Ebden teamed up to win the first ever Indian Wells mixed doubles invitational title in California, defeating France’s Caroline Garcia and Edouard Roger Vasselin 6-3, 6-3. Not since the 2013 Australian Open had Matt Ebden won a mixed doubles title.
It comes after Storm Hunter's tussle in the women’s doubles final against Australian Open champions Elise Mertens of Belgium and Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Su-wei, where Storm and her partner Katerina Siniakova (CZE) were runners up in the 6-4 6-4 encounter. Storm was the first Australian in 14 years to advance to the Indian Wells women’s doubles final.
Surfing – Two runners up at Portugal Pro
Tyler Wright and Ethan Ewing both notched runner-up finishes at the Portugal Pro, second to Johanne Defay (FRA) and Griffin Colapinto (USA) respectively.
Defay had lost to Tyler in their three previous Championship Tour matchups in the past two years, but defied their matchup history to outscore 10.83 compared to Tyler’s 5.50 at Supertubos beach.
Colapinto now holds a 2-1 head-to-head matchup advantage over Ethan, as Ethan’s 11.13 in the final fell short of Colapinto’s 17.94.
Jack Robinson and Molly Picklum bowed out in the round of 16 to Gabriel Medina (BRA) and Bagriela Bryan from Hawaii respectively.
Golf – Olympic hopefuls complete The Players Championship
Four Aussies tested themselves at The Players Championship in Palm Valley, Flordia with Jason Day standing out as the best of the four.
Finishing 6-under after four rounds, Jason ended in a tie for 35th. Adam Scott (T-45, 4-under), Min Woo Lee (T-54, 2-under) followed behind, however Cam Davis missed the cut.
Fencing – Foil individuals take on the Washington Grand Prix
Five Aussies were entered across the men’s and women’s foil competitions at the Grand Prix in Washington, USA over the weekend.
Gaining valuable experience, 18-year-old Joseph Glasson was the top ranked Australian in finishing 127th on 10 points.
