THIS REPORT COURTESY OF THE IAAF WEBSITE WHERE IT WAS FIRST PUBLISHED.
McLellan’s double highlights Canberra A-Series kick-off
Saturday 27 January 2007
Canberra, Australia - It has been 30 years since an Australian woman last contested a World or Olympic 100 metres final, but the race is on to change that and Sally McLellan is a clear leader after the Telstra A-Series kicked off today (27) in Canberra, Australia.
McLellan, 20, clocked the sixth fastest time in Australian history to win the 100m in 11.25 (legal tailwind 1.7m/sec) from fellow Queenslander Melanie Kleeberg (11.41) and the Northern Territory’s tall Crystal Attenborough (11.43).
Chris Noffke sails to victory in Canberra
(Getty Images)
Earlier during a windswept meet in the nation’s capital McLellan continued the development of her hurdles in lockstep with her sprinting when she clocked the fastest time over the barriers ever recorded by an Australian.
Her 12.88 was wind-assisted (+3.9m/sec) although sometimes a strong following wind can actually be a hindrance if it forces the athlete too close to the barriers mitigating against an efficient clearance.
McLellan fell in this event at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne 2006 but showed her potential when grabbing fourth at the World Cup in Athens later in the year in a personal best 12.95. Pam Ryan’s Australian record of 12.93 set way back in 1972 is at last vulnerable.
Lisa Corrigan after her 800 career best in Canberra
(Getty Images)
“I didn’t expect to run that fast today, I think it’s going to take a while to sink in,” McLellan said. “Watch out Pam. It’s too bad it was an illegal wind.”
Under her maiden name of Kilborn, Ryan won the silver medal behind fellow Australian Maureen Caird in the 80m Hurdles at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, the same Games which saw the arrival of Raelene Boyle in the sprints.
Boyle won 200m silver in Mexico City and in 1972 collected silver in the 100m and another in the 200m at the Munich Olympics. Boyle was the last Australian woman to contest an Olympic 100m final when she ran fourth in Montreal in 1976.
Commonwealth titleholder Bronwyn Thompson wins in Canberra
(Getty Images)
But she is excited about McLellan as a world class prospect over the barriers and on the flat.
"I tell you what, I was impressed with Sally’s attitude at the Commonwealth Games [where McLellan finished seventh in the 100m final],’’ Boyle said. “She had ‘a go’ . And you never grow if you don’t have a go.”
McLellan was born a decade after Boyle became the last Australian woman to compete in a global 100m final and although Sally knows her place, she also realises her own potential.
“I recognise I’m not fast enough to get into the 100m final on the Olympic and world stage,” said McLellan, who is coached on the Gold Coast by Sharon Hannan.
"But I’m training to be faster than Raelene and Melinda [Gainsford-Taylor, the national 100m recordholder with 11.12] so I can get into finals.
“I’m aiming to run under 11 seconds by Beijing [at the 2008 Olympic Games], but it takes 10.8 to win a medal.”
Bidding for her third consecutive Australian 100m sprint title this summer, McLellan started her season beautifully yesterday with an A-qualifying time for the World Championships in Osaka.
Wroe over Troode in close 400m
Victoria’s Sean Wroe and West Australian Chris Troode should also make sure their passports are up to date after both ran Osaka qualifying times in a great 400m battle.
Wroe, coached by former British decathlete Eric Hollingsworth, won in 45.34, just 0.01 outside the personal best time he clocked in finishing second in the Canberra meet last year. Troode, coached by former Commonwealth 400m Hurdles recordholder Lyn Foreman, clocked a new best of 45.42.
New Zealand’s former World champion Beatrice Faumuina regrouped to win the Discus Throw with a mighty 62.08m to defeat Sydney’s World Junior champion Dani Samuels (59.05m), thus extracting a small measure of revenge after Dani bumped Beatrice off the medal podium to claim bronze at last year’s Commonwealth Games.
Commonwealth titleholder Bronwyn Thompson from Queensland returned to competition a winner with a Long Jump of 6.50m (+1.7m/sec), holding out West Australian hepathlete Kylie Wheeler (6.43m, +2.5m/s) and Queensland youngster Jacinta Boyd (6.33m, +1.7m/s)
Howe returns with victory in Pole Vault
Boyd’s sister, Alana, demonstrated she is on the way up, literally, with her Pole Vault clearance of 4.45m. She lost on a countback to Commonwealth champion and Australian recordholder Kym Howe from Western Australia.
The Boyd sisters are the daughters of two-time Olympic 200m finalist Denise Boyd and husband, Ray Boyd, the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games Pole Vault champion. Under her father’s tuition, Alana vaulted 4.55m earlier this month in Perth.
Howe returned to competition after needing six stitches to close a wound in her foot, caused when she stepped on ice after an ice bath on 30 December. Howe will now travel with her coach, Alex Parnov, to compete in the Zepter Pole Vault Stars meet in Donetsk, Ukraine (10 February), before returning to compete in Sydney at the Telstra A-Series (17 February).
Double dash victory for Johnson
Patrick Johnson, who now trains with Welshman Tudor Bidder at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, won the sprint double in 10.29 (+0.8m/s) and 20.54 (+2.6m/s) with Nigeria-born Ambrose Ezenwa (10.34/20.73) from New South Wales runner-up in both races.
World Youth champion Chris Noffke won the Long Jump with a wind-assisted 8.05m (+4.3m/s) with World Junior champion Robbie Crowther (7.71m) placing fourth, struggling to come to terms with the fluctuating wind.
Corrigan’s momentum continues
Wind also damaged the longer track events, but Canberra’s Lisa Corrigan won the two lapper in 2:01.59 from Tamsyn Lewis (2:02.51) defeating the seven-time national 800m title winner for the second time over the distance this month. It was also the third personal best of the month for the 22-year-old Corrigan, who last week ran to a solo 4:08.72 victory in the 1500, knocking more than a second from her previous best over that distance. Two weeks ago in Sydney, she ran 2:01.92.
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Mike Hurst (The Sydney Daily Telegraph) for the IAAF
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