Teenage Dream as Rising Stars Steal Centre Stage at Chemist Warehouse Adelaide Invitational

The Olympic and Paralympic year is touted for the biggest names in athletics, but the Chemist Warehouse Adelaide Invitational belonged to a rising crop of teenagers led by Claudia Hollingsworth, Peyton Craig and Cameron Myers who stole centre stage with a sequence of sizzling performances.

A trio of rising middle-distance stars owned the night at the SA Athletics Stadium, as Claudia Hollingsworth (Craig Mottram) and Peyton Craig (Brendan Mallyon) delivered a pair of Australian Under 20 records, while Cameron Myers (Dick Telford) continued his meteoric rise.

18-year-old Hollingsworth opened her year in style with a victorious run of 4:04.45 over 1500m, eclipsing Georgie Clarke’s 4:06.77 record from 2000 and winning by a margin of over three-seconds.

“It was just so exciting, the crowd’s really big and running at night time under lights just gives it something special. Having my teammates in the race and leading up it felt really good through training. I’ve just come back from Falls Creek and I really enjoyed the race,” Hollingsworth said.

Fellow 18-year-old Craig bettered his own (1:45.77) Australian Under 20 record over 800m, gritting his teeth to clinch a last-stride win over the slick field with a time of 1:45.41, while Myers cruised to 1500m victory in a stylish 3:34.55 – the second fastest time of his career.

“I made the decision to put the triathlon career on the burners and focus on track, and I think I have found a good distance here. I’m in career-best form but I think I can get the qualifier [1:44.70], that’s definitely the goal,” Craig said with his eyes firmly on the Paris Olympics.

Fellow teenager and now Australia’s fastest woman Torrie Lewis (Andrew Iselin) kept the teenage dream rolling as she proved too strong over 200m, racing to a time of 23.05 (-1.5).  The sprinting action was bolstered by victories to Ebony Lane (Matt Carter) and Jacob Despard (Rolf Ohman), setting respective 100m times of 11.35 (+1.0) and 10.28 (+0.9).

The field action saw reigning Diamond League champion Matthew Denny (Dale Stevenson) welcome the giants of global discus down under, with the Australian record holder producing a strong 65.74m throw that was only bettered by Kiwi rival Connor Bell (65.93m), as both men bettered the previous meet record.

“The way that I’m feeling didn’t really reflect in the distance, it was good that Connor stepped up and got the competition revving. I couldn’t really find the rhythm and the flights that I needed for the big throws, it’s a good learning experience,” Denny said.

Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Abbey Caldwell (Gavin Burren) laid her cards on the table in a star-studded 800m bout, running a patient race before tearing away in the home straight to clock a meet record of 2:00.81.

With round two to come at next week’s Maurie Plant Meet - Melbourne, the 22-year-old is ready to repeat the dose.

“It’s a bizarre situation, it’s so rare to have that kind of duplication of the field in five days’ time. I don’t think there’s any reason to go into Melbourne any differently, I will just go in and race it, and take the opportunity to put on a show for the fans of athletics,” Caldwell said.

World Para Athletics Championships medallists Reece Langdon (Tim O’Shaughnessy, T38) and Angus Hincksman (Simon Moran, T38) delivered a pair of Paralympic A qualifiers over 1500m, despite Langdon taking a tumble at the bell. The Australian record holder rallied to set a time of 3:55.58, while Hincksman stopped the clock in a new career-best of 3:57.30.

Australia’s triple jumpers picked up where they left off as Aiden Hinson (Chloe Stevens) secured the win by one centimetre with a 16.34m (+1.2) performance to beat Connor Murphy (Andrew Murphy) with 16.33m (+1.2). Kayla Cuba (Stacey Taurima) started her season strong with 13.77m (+0.9) to finish ahead of Desleigh Owusu (Andrew Murphy) who trailed with 13.63m (+0.4).

Tokyo Olympian Ellie Beer (Brett Robinson) bounced back to form when rewriting her personal best of 52.53 from 2019, rewarded for an aggressive race with a time of 52.25 to set up a second Olympic campaign.

The Chemist Warehouse Summer Series is set to roll on with tomorrow’s Australian and Oceania 20km Race Walking Championships set for a 7:00am start on War Memorial Drive, with start lists to be found HERE, and the Maurie Plant Meet – Melbourne, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold Meet, to be hosted on February 15 at Lakeside Stadium – with entry lists HERE.

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia