DAY UNDECIDED ON DOUBLE SHOT
RILEY Day is not sure if she is ready to chase a second consecutive national sprint double haul next month.
Day won the Queensland 200m final at the State Athletics Facility yesterday and plans to race the 200m only at the Queensland Track Classic on Saturday week, two weeks before the national titles in Sydney.
In the Beaudesert sprinter’s first 200m of the season, she clocked 23.72sec to see off Caitlin Jones (23.95sec) and state 400m champion Ella Connolly (23.97sec).
Alex Hartmann completed the men’s state open sprint double, but his win in 20.94sec in the men’s 200m left him just .04sec short of his first qualifying time for the Doha world championships in September.
Day and coach Paul Pearce intend for her to race the 200m at the national titles, with a 100m outing in either the Australian under20 event or the open 100m earlier in the meet. “So far I’m thinking the open 100m but we will see closer to the comp if I can back up that many days in a row,’’ Day said. “It is always my intention to try to defend a national title, but I’ve had one (100m) race this year and really can’t judge.
“I wasn’t expecting much going into this competition. It was my first back-to-back race (in one day) since July.
“It’s been pretty heavy training for me but it will lighten up in the lead-up to nationals.’’