Silver lining for Australia’s athletes
Team leaders Sally Pearson and Kim Mickle put a welcome silver lining on Australia’s performance at the world athletics championships.
For the first time since the 2005 world titles in Helsinki, the team will leave a major championships without a single gold medal.
But that was offset by the heroic comeback from injury by Pearson, Mickle’s remarkable three PBs in as many days in the javelin and a fifth major medal from Jared Tallent – the most consistent race walker on the planet.
There were also welcome breakthrough performances from a handful of lesser-known names, headed by Zoe Buckman’s terrific seventh-placed effort in the 1500m.
Dane Bird-Smith, 21, was 11th in the 20km walk in his first major with the promise of much better to come in a discipline where Australia has a proud pedigree.
Jess Trengove was also 11th in the women’s marathon – the best finish by an Australian woman in this event at a world championships.
Julian Wruck will be better for the hitout as he learns to mix it with the big boppers of the discus world.
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Of the more experienced members of the team, Kathryn Mitchell snuck under the radar in fifth spot in the women’s javelin while Mickle boomed her way to silver.
And Tristan Thomas’s heroic anchor leg to drag Australia into the 4x400m relay final was full of merit.
Australia finished in 19th place on a medals table headed by Russia ahead of the United States and Jamaica, marking the first time in 30 years that the Americans had not claimed top spot.
Australia fared slightly better on the top-eight placings table, in 16th position.
So on to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow next year.
Among the biggest issues for head coach Eric Hollingsworth over the next 12 months are Steve Hooker and Mitchell Watt, both of whom have effectively been unsighted in a competition sense since the London Olympics.
It is unclear whether Hooker will return to defend his pole vault title in Glasgow, while long jumper Watt continues to be troubled by heel and calf injuries.
Watt’s absence was keenly felt in Moscow as – along with Pearson and Tallent – he had been one of the Australian team’s medal bankers over the past five years.
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The team should be strengthened by the return from injury of several other genuine medal contenders – among them pole vaulter Alana Boyd and marathon duo Michael Shelley and Lisa Weightman.
Pearson will retain the role of Flame captain in Glasgow, where her heavy workload is likely to include the 100m and 4x100m relay as well as the 100m hurdles.
She was even tempted to have a crack at the 200m, only to be thwarted by the schedule.
Australia’s performance in recent years
2013 Moscow world championships: 0 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze – 3 total medals
2012 London Olympics: 1-2-0 – 3
2011 Daegu world championships: 1-1-1 – 3
2009 Berlin world championships: 2-0-2 – 4
2008 Beijing Olympics: 1-2-1 – 4
2007 Osaka world championships: 2-0-0 – 2
2005 Helsinki world championships: 0-0-1 – 1
2004 Athens Olympics: 0-1-2 – 3
