The third day of the Chemist Warehouse Australian Athletics Championships witnessed impressive performances by Australia’s elite athletes. The event held in Adelaide was highlighted by Matthew Denny setting an Australian record and teenage sensation Sebastian Sultana emerging as Australia’s fastest man.
Denny, the reigning Diamond League champion from Queensland, set an Australian record of 69.35m in the Men’s Discus. Denny claimed his seventh Australian title and improved upon his previous record by over one meter. “I’m there to compete and to win medals and try to win championships,” Denny said.
18-year-old Sebastian Sultana from New South Wales wowed the crowd by being crowned Australia’s fastest man. Sultana came out on top in the Men’s 100m with a 10.27 run, finishing ahead of Joshua Azzopardi and Jacob Despard. “My goal and focus is World Relays and then potentially the Olympics and World Juniors later on in the year,” Sultana said.
In the Women’s 100m final, Queensland’s Naa Anang clinched gold in 11.34, her first national title since 2019. She finished ahead of Ella Connolly and Ebony Lane.
Adam Spencer emerged victorious in the challenging Men’s 1500m, beating Oliver Hoare and Jesse Hunt to claim gold. Spencer hails from Victoria and was a semi-finalist in the World Championships. Regarding his victory, Spencer stated: “If you told me 12 months ago that I was going to have this sort of year, I wouldn’t have believed you.”
Jessica Hull from NSW and pole vault world champion Nina Kennedy showed their class, dominating the Women’s 1500m and pole vault competitions respectively. Hull clocked a new championship record of 4:01.39, while Kennedy cleared 4.65m.
“I jumped off 12 steps. It’s a medium run for me because I’m coming off a back stress fracture after last season, so to come out and also jump close to my best is a nice confidence booster,” Kennedy said.
There were also inspiring performances in the Women’s Ambulant Shot Put with Ella Hose increasing her national record and high jumper Yual Reath delivering a 2.29m clearance.
The final day of the Open and Under 20 half of the Australian Athletics Championships will continue today from 9am ACST and will be streamed on 7plus from 9.50am ACDT.
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