AUSTRALIA’S BEST KEEP PRIMED FOR OLYMPICS

HOW SOME OF AUSTRALIA’S TOP PROSPECTS ARE PREPARING FOR THE TOKYO OLYMPICS THROUGH THE PANDEMIC

ATHLETICS

Just five Australians — Kelsey-Lee Barber, Jemima Montag, Dane Bird-Smith, Jessica Hull and Stewart McSweyn, pictured — have been confirmed on the track and field team for Tokyo but around 60 are expected to be selected when the qualifying period ends. Under the selection policy, athletes also need to win their events at the nationals, to be assured of being picked. It’s likely most Aussie athletes will remain at home before coming together for a planned national camp in Cairns in July.

BASKETBALL

Like all their opponents, the late finish to the NBA season has left the Boomers having to wait and see when their full squad can all come together before Tokyo. A preliminary roster will be announced next month. The women’s side, the Opals, are regular medallists. They will hold a training camp in Australia in March and have pencilled in practice games.

ROWING

Australia has already qualified in eight events for Tokyo: Eights, fours and pairs (both men and women) plus the men’s quadruple scull and the women’s double scull. If the qualifiers are cancelled and World Rowing selects boats on the results from the last world championships, four more boats will get the nod. The trials will take place in March before a training camp in Rockhampton.

RUGBY 7s

Australia have safely qualified for both the men’s and women’s tournaments, where the women are defending the title they won at Rio in 2016. Unable to travel overseas because the World Series was cancelled, both Australian teams have set up their own domestic comps. If borders open in time, Australia may have practice games against Fiji and New Zealand.

SOFTBALL

Back in the Olympics for the first time since 2008, the Aussie Spirit are medal contenders. There is a training camp at the AIS in Canberra then the Summer Slam — Fully Loaded Softball event.The Aussie Spirit hope to hit Japan in

June for warm-up games.

SWIMMING

The only Australian swimmer to have qualified for Tokyo so far is Kareena Lee, pictured, in the women’s open water event. The men’s qualifier has yet to be decided while competitors in the pool events won’t be selected until after the Australian trials, scheduled for June for all seven relays because of their results from the 2019 world titles and can enter up two swimmers in each of the 28 individual races though not all spots are likely to be filled under Swimming Australia’s selection policy.

TRIATHLON

Australia can qualify up to three men and women for the individual and mixed team events at Tokyo but no-one has been selected yet because the qualifying process was disrupted and the rankings frozen because of the pandemic. Triathlon Australia is still waiting to hear from World Triathlon how many quota spots it will get for Tokyo. Australia’s top competitors have already come together for two training camps and more

are scheduled.

WATER POLO

Both the men’s and women’s teams have already qualified for Tokyo and are considered strong medal chances. The women’s squad, the Stingers, are heading to Lennox Heads in northern NSW for two weeks before setting up base camp in Queensland’s Sunshine Coast next month. The men’s team, the Sharks, will mostly be based at the NSWIS in Sydney, but are also planning short camps in spots including Canberra, Brisbane and Newcastle.