Bronzed Aussies Headline Success at World XC

Australia’s mixed 4x2km relay team has raced into Australian athletics history with a bronze medal at the 2023 World Athletics Championships Bathurst, leading from the front as the world’s best runners battled both the terrain and conditions in an instant classic down under.

A day that started with scorching temperatures and ended in a thunderstorm at Mount Panorama provided a true test for distance stars from around the globe, with the home nation faring to secure a bronze medal and two fourth-place finishes.

Australia’s highly anticipated quartet of NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holders Oliver Hoare, Jessica Hull, plus Stewart McSweyn and Abbey Caldwell delivered under the immense pressure of a home world championships – clinching bronze behind Kenya and Ethiopia to cement Australia’s status as a heavyweight nation of the distance running world.

“We wear the guernsey with pride and we all executed good races. To compete with the powerhouses of Ethiopia and Kenya hopefully puts Australia on the map and shows that we are part of the big-three of distance running now,” Stewart said.

With Oliver leading out the team, it was Jessica who made significant inroads on the second leg to move Australia into the lead with a 12-second turnaround, before Stewart did what Stewart does and Abbey anchored the team to a 23:26 performance – five seconds behind silver (Ethiopia) and 12-seconds behind gold (Kenya).

“There is always pressure when it comes to racing on home soil when you have the resumes that we have and the anticipation of what was to come. That’s why we do this sport, we handle the pressure the way we handle it and being at home, I know personally that people have come here to cheer us on,” Oliver said.

The comments were echoed by Jessica and Abbey who were delighted with all four athletes securing their first world championships medal:

“There is no pressure when you have three superstars with you, you know that everyone is so professional that they will do their jobs,” Jessica said.

Olympic Mum Ellie Pashley lead the senior Australian senior women over 10km, registering a 19^th place finish after being the sixth Australian at the trial and giving birth to daughter Tiggy just eight months ago.

“I just scraped into the Australian team at the last minute, so I would have been happy with top 30 or 40. The support on the course was insane. I have run New York Marathon before but this equalled that, it was really special to hear your name and ‘go Aussie’ on the course – it made all the difference,” Pashley said.

Despite Pashley’s brilliance, it was Australia’s resurgent depth in the distance ranks that shone as the women finished in fourth place behind East African powerhouses Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda – racing as a team to bring about a strong result on home soil.

Leanne Pompeani battled fiercely to mix it with the world’s best, clinging on to 22^nd place in the home straight when immediately followed by NSWIS scholarship holder Rose Davies. South Australian duo Caitlin Adams and Isobel Batt-Doyle finished in 28^th and 29^th respectively, while Georgia Hansen rounded out the star-studded line-up in 44^th.

The Under 20 women experienced mixed fortunes in the gruelling battle that was the Under 20 Women’s 6km, led by 16-year-old Aspen Anderson who finished in 35^th place. The Queenslander raced aggressively before sticking on well to fight her way to the finish, followed by teammates Charli-Rose Carlyon in 39^th and Gabrielle Schmidt in 42^nd.

Article courtesy of  Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia