Aussies ready to rule the Games
They’re young, supremely talented and ready to shine on home soil, writes Reece Homfray
KURTIS MARSCHALL ATHLETICS
AUSTRALIA may have found their next Steve Hooker, and by the end of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games everyone will have heard of him. Adelaide pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall’s dramatic rise to the Olympic team for Rio de Janeiro in 2016 has shown no signs of slowing and he will head to the Gold Coast as one of the favourites for the gold medal. Marshall, 20, jumped 5.60m to miss the Olympic final on a countback in Rio, but hit back the following season to finish seventh in last year’s world championships final. He went to another level in January with a PB of 5.80m in Perth and backed up with 5.80m at the indoor world championships in Britain in March. Hooker announced himself with a gold medal at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006 and became Olympic champion in Beijing two years later. There is no reason Marschall can’t follow in his footsteps.
EZI MAGBEGOR BASKETBALL
BORN in New Zealand to Nigerian parents, it hasn’t taken long for Ezi Magbegor to be dubbed the future of Australian women’s basketball. The 18-year-old has enjoyed a dramatic rise from talented junior, and MVP of the under-17 world championships, to the Opals squad for the Games. This season Magbegor became the first Canberra Capitals player to win the WNBL’s rookie of the year award voted on by all eight captains and coaches. The power forward polled 41 of a possible 42 votes to emerge a convincing winner. In an outstanding season, Magbegor hit double-figure scoring 16 times and averaged 3.8 rebounds per game. Even more impressively she combined basketball with Year 12 studies. The Opals won gold the last time basketball featured at the Games in 2006, and Magbegor is an important piece of the puzzle in their campaign for another.
ARIARNE TITMUS SWIMMING
NICKNAMED ‘‘Arnie’’, Australian swimming’s new Terminator became the first woman in 14 years to win the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle treble at the national championships to book her Games spot. Ariarne Titmus was the first woman to win the freestyle treble since Linda McKenzie in 2004. The 17-year-old Tasmanian announced her arrival on the big stage at last year’s world championships when she finished fourth in the 400m freestyle final behind American Katie Ledecky, and won a bronze medal in Australia’s 4x200m freestyle relay. Titmus grew up in Launceston but moved to Brisbane two years ago for training. She is still completing Year 12 and doesn’t turn 18 until September but there are no limits on what she can achieve at this year’s Games. Titmus looks like Australia’s next golden girl of the pool.
MATTHEW GLAETZER CYCLING
GLAETZER has been on the radar for a while but is poised to deliver on his prodigious talent after becoming an individual world champion for the first time this year. The 25year-old won the men’s sprint in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, in March to become the first Australian world champion in the event since Sean Eadie in 2002. It continued a stunning start to the year where Glaetzer broke the sea level world record on the track over 1km. With a full book of rides at the Gold Coast, including the team sprint, sprint, keirin and 1km TT, it’s possible Glaetzer can ride away with four gold medals. He will defend his keirin title from Glasgow in 2014, but that event is the most unpredictable of all. In the timed events there is no one faster and Glaetzer is the man to beat as he leads a resurgence in Australian cycling against the might of the British nations.
JACK CARTWRIGHT SWIMMING
AUSTRALIA may well go 1-2-3 in the men’s 100m freestyle and it will be 19-year-old Jack Cartwright who could find himself on the podium alongside household names Cameron McEvoy and Kyle Chalmers. The Queensland teenager put the world on notice with a stunning six medals, including four gold, at the 2016 Junior Pan Pacs and his star has been on the rise ever since. In 2017 he made his first senior national team for the world championships in Budapest where he swam a scorching 47.97sec in the heats and made the 100m final where he finished seventh. It wasn’t all smooth sailing at the Games trials in March. Cartwright was taken to hospital after his heart rate exceeded 200bpm during the 200m heats and he failed to qualify for the final. But the following day he lined up in the 100m final and finished second behind Chalmers in 48.60sec to book his ticket to the Gold Coast.
ATHLETICS
THE Australian sprinter dubbed “Quadzilla” for his muscular thighs that propelled him to victory in the 100m at selection trials is now eyeing a medal on the Gold Coast. Trae Williams, 20, is one of the most exciting talents to emerge on the Australian sprinting scene in years. His time of 10.10sec at the national titles was the fastest by an Australian in 11 years and would have put him on the podium at the past four Commonwealth Games. His improvement set the stage for an enthralling showdown with Jamaican Yohan Blake, the second-fastest man in history behind Usain Bolt over 100m. Williams announced his potential with a bronze at the 2014 Youth Commonwealth Games and claimed his first senior national 100m title in 2017. Having chosen sprinting over a rugby league career, the sky is now the limit.