Judo
Aoife Coughlan won her first ever judo Grand Slam Medal over the weekend, claiming silver in the women's -70kg event in Tokyo.
Coughlan has been getting closer and closer to standing on the podium and said that "it took a little while, but we got up there."
"No where near done though, bring on the World Masters in 2 weeks time," she said.
Fellow Victorian Institute of Sport scholarship holder, Katarina Hacker made it to the Repechage bronze medal match, narrowly missing out on also standing on the podium, finishing 5th - her best result at the Tokyo Grand Slam.
Both athletes are the only two Australians to have also qualified for the 2022 Jerusalem Masters which is set to commence December 20th.
Aerial Skiing
Danielle Scott has capped off an amazing start to the season for Australia’s winter sports athletes, recording the third World Cup victory of the weekend overnight at the aerial skiing event in Ruka, Finland.
Scott joins Olympic Champion mogul skier Jakara Anthony and teenager snowboard cross rider Josie Baff in claiming gold, with Matt Graham also on the mogul skiing podium taking home a bronze medal.
In an impressive performance, Scott led from start to finish over the three rounds of the event, leaving her best jump for last scoring 99.05 with a near perfect “double full-full” triple twisting double back somersault jump.
Read MORE | Olympic Winter Institute of Australia
Athletics | Diver shatters Willis' Marathon record
A second Australian road record has tumbled in just a matter of hours, with Tokyo Olympian and Commonwealth Games representative Sinead Diver shattering the Australian women’s marathon record by more than one minute at the Valencia Trinidad Alfonso Marathon.
In an historic day for Australian distance running, Diver put on a gutsy performance to finish in 12th place and demolish Benita Willis’ long-standing 16-year-old record, clocking 2:21:34.
Diver’s run not only makes her the fastest Australian female over the distance, but in lowering her previous personal best (2:24:11) by almost three minutes shows that there is much more to come for the Irish born 45-year-old.
Read MORE | Athletics Australia
Athletics | Cowley and Henderson hang tough
Athletes had hot times on their minds in anticipation of the Australian 35km Race Walks Championships, but as the mercury soared above 30°C and the championship cauldron bubbled away – it was Olympic duo Rhydian Cowley and Rebecca Henderson who stood tall.
As Melbourne produced its first two days over 30°C since March this weekend, Australia’s premier race walkers were set a tough task as Fawkner Park’s tree coverage offered little reprieve. Not deterred by the warm summer morning, the sound of the gun at 7:30am was met by aggressive tempos from Rebecca Henderson (Simon Baker) and Declan Tingay (Brent Vallance).
Having stated their intentions to nail the respective standards for the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, both Henderson and Tingay established significant leads and were dialled in on target pace through 20km despite being visibly affected by the heat – Henderson ably assisted through 10km by Australian record holder Jemima Montag (Brent Vallance) who delivered a short stint post illness.
The war of attrition suited no man better than Rhydian Cowley (Brent Vallance) who has earned a reputation of grit and determination after a decade at the top level, with the Olympic top-eight finisher proceeding to eliminate Tingay’s 90-second lead and overtake him through 25km - charging to victory in 2:37:30 to make it back-to-back national titles.
Read MORE | Athletics Australia
Athletics |Robinson overtakes De Castella as Australia's fastest Marathoner
Brett Robinson will go down in history as the fastest Australian man over 42.2km, after breaking Rob de Castella’s 36-year-old Australian marathon record at the Fukuoka International Marathon this afternoon.
The 31-year-old from Melbourne ran a valiant 2:07:31, slashing the famed marathoner’s previous record by 20 seconds. The time was a personal best by two minutes and 21 seconds, and saw him average 3:01 per kilometre over the swift course.
Placing fourth out of a field of 36, Robinson said he was not only thrilled to achieve a record he had been chasing for many years, but was excited to be competitive on the world stage.
Read MORE | Athletics Australia
Hockey
The Kookaburras have won the best of five series against India after recording a come from behind 5-1 victory in Match 4 at Adelaide’s MATE Stadium this afternoon.
Despite dominating the early exchanges, the Kookaburras found themselves a goal down in the 25th minute before responding strongly in an emphatic display.
Jeremy Hayward scored a double, both from drag flicks, while Jake Whetton, Tom Wickham and defender Matt Dawson also found the backboard.
Kookaburras Head Coach Colin Batch said it was a pleasing performance off the back of Wednesday’s result.
“We started really well. The first seven minutes were very good and then India came back into the game,” said Batch.
“We had some pressure to deal with and we dealt with it well defensively and held them out…then we re-established our game so overall I was really pleased.”
“We were much better with the ball today. In Match 3 we were a bit conservative and played too narrow, so we opened up the game today.”
