An additional four VIS track and field athletes, who have achieved the Olympic qualifying standard, have been added to the 2016 Australian Olympic Team.
Young high jumper Joel Baden showed that perseverance pays off and will make his Olympic debut in Rio. Baden cleared the automatic qualifying height of 2.29m in late June as the end of qualifying period approached; he cleared the qualifying mark at the North Queensland Games in Cairns, equalling his personal best set in 2014 in Melbourne.
Arguably Australia’s most talented all round distance runner, Jeffrey Riseley, gets a third chance at the Olympics Games, while Ryan Gregson and Zoe Buckman will make their appearance at a second Games.
Gregson has been in terrific form this year and stamped himself as a legitimate player in the men’s 1500m, with a season’s best performance of 3min32.13sec at the Monaco Diamond League meet over the weekend. Only Gregson — who owns the national record of 3:31.06 sec — and Simon Doyle have run faster.
Also in Monaco, Kathryn Mitchell chalked up her fourth Diamond League podium finish in the women’s javelin, throwing 63.80m to finish second behind Tatsiana Khaladovich of Belarus (65.62m).
