Staking their claim
A STRONG cohort of local pole vaulters have proven that they are among the nation’s best after a stellar performance at the Australian Junior Athletics Championships.
The local athletes picked up seven pole vault medals at the championships, which attracted more than 2000 junior athletes to Sydney’s Olympic Park last month.
In just her third pole vault season, Olivia Gross impressed spectators with a jump of 3.45m, which was enough to claim the gold medal in the under-17 category. Her teammate at Geelong Guild Athletics Club, Evie Bayes, performed well across several disciplines and won bronze in the women’s under-16 pole vault and 4x100m relay.
Geelong Guild Athletics Club pole vault coach Hamish Nelson praised the athletes for their “exceptional performance”.
“They all did extremely well, especially Olivia given it’s only her third season competing,” he said.
Cassidy Bradshaw, of Chilwell Athletics Club, won a gold medal in the under-16 category with a jump of 3.45m, and took home bronze in the under-18 event.
Chilwell Athletics Club’s under-14 pole vaulters dominated the field, with Alexander Jarman winning gold, Oliver Bradshaw and Campbell Braden sharing the bronze, and Noah Burns placing fifth after a tight finish that required a countback.
Hayden Burns leapt to 3.4m to claim bronze in the under16 men’s category, while Jonathon Burns Jr and Bryce Stephenson placed sixth and ninth respectively in the men’s under-18 section.
Nelson said that many young athletes took up the discipline of pole vault after seeing it at Little Athletics.
“Most kids have been doing athletics for a little while and they think it looks fun so they give it a go,” he said.