The Victory Lap

We are finally here, and I can't believe it. The buildup to the Olympics, following the Road to Paris religiously, and now the purple track is alive with events. Initially, I planned to put these updates out daily, but Mitch has been doing such a great job keeping the Instagram updated with live events that I've decided to stick to the weekly format. Apologies that this edition is a day late; it turns out trying to track the Olympics on the other side of the world with real-life commitments is busier than I thought.

The tipping competition is off and firing, and for those who have entered, you can check out the live leaderboard here to see how you stack up against the rest of the competitors.

Enough of me rambling; let’s dive into the results!

Track Spotlight

High Jump Duo

What can be said about these two that hasn't already been said? Consistency in the high jump, especially on the world stage, is something both of them thrive on. While Olyslagers has been on fire during the Diamond League season, there were question marks over Patterson. Well, get those doubts out of your head because the girls took out silver and bronze in a stacked lineup, proving that you should never doubt class.

Final results were

• 1st - Yaroslava Mahuchikh - 2.00m

• 2nd - Nicola Olyslagers - 2.00m

• 3rd - Eleanor Patterson - 1.95m (SB)

• 3rd - Iryna Gerashchenko - 1.95m (SB)

Looking forward to when Olyslagers' jumping journals go public!

Sprinters Success

Australians and sprinting don’t normally go hand in hand; our success is often overlooked in favor of field and middle-distance runners. Well, those days are over. The green and gold have been flying on the purple track with the best showing in the sprints since Sydney 2000 (don't quote me on this—athstats would be able to tell you). So far, we have:

• Bree Masters - Semi Finals 100m

• Torrie Lewis - Semi Final 200m

• Reece Holder - Semi Final 400m

• Alanah Yukich - Semis 400m Hurdles

The future of Aussie sprinting looks bright, and it’s exciting to see the heights these athletes can reach.

Novacastrian World Takeover

As a Newy boy through and through and having gone to Newcastle High School, which is directly adjacent to the infamous Blue Track that is home to both Jess Hull and Rose Davies, it's surreal. As a result, you will be hearing both myself and Jacob Gower bragging about this for months to come.

Having two world beaters from your hometown is something to be proud of, so whether you like it or not, they will be getting a special mention.

Rose Davies made it to the finals of the 5000m to face giants like Faith Kipyegon, Sifan Hassan, and Beatrice Chebet. To come home with a 12th place finish and a time of 14:49.67 is huge. We will be seeing more from her in the next few years, for sure.

I don't want to count my chickens too early because the 1500m has been brutal this Olympics, but my prediction is another Newy girl, Jess Hull, making it to the finals to take on Faith Kipyegon.

Medal Favourite Updates

Last week, we went through who the bookies thought had the best odds to medal from the Aussie contingent. How are they traveling so far?

• Matt Denny sailed through the qualifying round with an auto-qualifying throw of 66.83m on his second throw.

• Nina Kennedy got through easily with two clearances, the last at 4.55m. She barely had to break a sweat.

• Jessica Hull is about to set foot on the track for the first time as this newsletter goes out for the 1500m.

• Mackenzie Little's campaign starts in the qualification round of the javelin on the 7th of August.

As we saw above, both Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson are heading home with silver and bronze medals, so maybe the bookies are onto something, and our athletes are going to be heading home with heavier baggage.

Repechage Recap

This is the first year that races between 200m and 1500m have repechage rounds for those who don’t auto-qualify from the heats, giving them a second chance to reach the semis.

The women's 800m was a great example of this. Claudia Hollingsworth qualified directly from the heats to the semi-finals by running a picture-perfect race, hugging the rail of lane 1 and looking like a seasoned professional, not a 19-year-old at her first global meet.

In another heat, Abbey Caldwell ran a cracker race but was just in the strongest heat. Her time would have qualified her in any other heat. As a result, she ended up in a repechage heat where she showed her quality from the heats and won it, advancing to the finals.

Alanah Yukich and Torrie Lewis were other Aussies who used the repechage rounds to advance to the semi-finals. At first, I was skeptical of the process, but count me a fan. More races can't be a bad thing for viewers, right?

One big thing I noticed with the introduction of the repechage rounds is that it seemed to affect the tactics of the 1500m. With no more small 'q' entries, there is no incentive for athletes to pull a fast race from the front. As a result, all the heats ended up much slower than we have previously expected.

Unfortunately, this affected our Aussie boys, who are used to running sub-3:30 Diamond Leagues and are perhaps more 1500/5k runners than 800/1500. This saw Ollie Hoare, Stewy McSweyn, and Adam Spencer heading home earlier than expected. Absolute hats off to all of them; the effort just to get to the Olympics is something that the majority of us can't comprehend, so big ups to them.

Watch Parties

Not all of us are lucky enough to be in Paris like Mitch and Jacob right now, but that doesn't mean we can't get involved and get amongst the action with our fellow track and field enthusiasts. If you can't make it to Paris, then watch parties are the next best thing. Check out some of the watch parties you can attend for the 1500m and marathons.

Cheeky Run Club x Tempo Journal x Up There Athletics are having a watch party at Up There Athletics in Melbourne for the women's marathon. If you are in Melbourne, I would highly recommend attending.

For those who aren’t in Melbourne or able to attend, Zato AC is having a virtual watch party via Discord for all the remaining 1500m races and both the men's and women's marathons. There’s already a tight-knit crew in there every day chatting about the Olympics, but these are focus points.

Link to the Discord - come say hi anytime!

Gear Up

Fractel x Dsplaced

When you think of headwear, most people think of Ciele or Fractel. As someone with a larger head, Fractel is my go-to because not all caps fit those with a big noggin plus they have the added bonus of being an Aussie company

Fractel started teasing a collab with the creative agency Dsplaced, which got me intrigued. I reached out to Matt for a hook-up in collaboration with Zato AC to try out the gear and provide a review.

The collaboration features the M series cap called “Terrasyn,” with a fresh design reminiscent of denim, representing the runner and all the different terrains they traverse.

Personally, I don’t usually buy darker caps for running to avoid overheating in summer, but for winter in Australia, this isn't an issue. As always, Fractel's fit and comfort are top-notch. Keep an eye out for new products at the Melbourne Marathon.

I planned a larger review of this cap, but in the end, it's simple: the hat is comfortable, fits most head sizes (including larger ones), and is a great winter option. Aesthetic preferences aside, it's a winner.

Fractel is also the only brand I know making legionnaires hats, taking me back to primary school days and perfect for sun protection in summer.

Around the Track

Other News

Mondo Duplantis does Mondo things, breaking his own world record. By the gap he made it over the bar, this won’t be the last time that happens either. The guy is a pure superstar and heads and shoulders above the competition.

Controversy in a couple of events with 100m and 200m favorites from Jamaica pulling out of their races through either injury or being denied entry to the stadium. The controversy doesn’t stop there, with Faith Kipyegon being disqualified from her silver in the 5000m, only to be reinstated a couple of hours later.

The 100m is always a show, and the athletes didn’t fail to deliver. The women's race was taken out by a dominant Julian Alfred, with Sha’Carri Richardson not far behind. The men's race had all finalists under 10 seconds, with Noah Lyles pipping Kishane Thompson by the smallest of margins. They did not disappoint.

End Credits

If you made it to the end of this mammoth newsletter then congratulations. The Olympics is just the most incredible event and I didn’t want to miss out anything. Even with the newsletter being twice as long as usual there were so many incredible Aussie competing at the moment that I couldn’t get around to. Make sure for instant updates on all events follow the Straight At It Instagram and subscribe to this newsletter.

See you next week for an Olympic Round Up