In sunnies and compression shorts at a picture-perfect Lakeside Stadium in Melbourne, Australian Commonwealth Games champion Oliver Hoare iced his sparkling trip home with a faultless triumph on Thursday night.
The Boulder-based superstar from Sydney’s south clocked 3:52.54 to clinch victory in the John Landy Mile at the Maurie Plant Meet, overcoming a field that included Rio Olympics 1500m champion Matthew Centrowitz.
Hoare’s sizzling run at the Continental Tour Gold event came five days after he was a member of the Australian team that secured bronze in the mixed 4x2km relay at the world cross-country championships in Bathurst.
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The 26-year-old took up second position early in the race, found a relaxed rhythm and had too much pace for his rivals over the final lap, streaking away to win by more than a second in front of hundreds of onlookers.
Australia’s Cameron Myers claimed a slice of history in the race, breaking the under-16 mile world record held by Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the Tokyo Olympics men’s 1500m champion.
Myers also became the second-youngest person in the world to run a sub-four-minute mile, registering 3:55.44 as he finished third in an Australian under-20 record. Ingebrigsten ran a 3:58.07 at 16 years and 250 days in May 2017, while Myers is 16 years and 259 days.
Other highlights from the Melbourne meet included a dominant performance from reigning 100m world champion Fred Kerley, who won the Peter Norman 200m in 20.32 (-0.9).
Australia’s Rohan Browning was in contention for gold when he entered the straight, but Kerley moved clear and began celebrating with about 20m remaining, raising his right arm and soaking up the atmosphere.
Kerley, the only one in the race wearing sunnies, strutted his stuff like he was the coolest man in the world.
Browning enjoyed a winning moment in the men’s 100m, outlasting New Zealand’s Eddie Osei-Nketia as he claimed victory in 10.26 (-1.7).
Another spectacular moment at the Maurie Plant Meet saw Australians Jessica Hull and Abbey Caldwell square off in a thrilling dash to the finish line in the women’s 1500m.
Hull made a decisive move with about 200m remaining, establishing a sizeable lead, but Caldwell called upon her magnificent kick to just about draw level with around 30m to go.
Hull withstood the gutsy challenge, pipping her rival in 4:07.11.
Hull and Caldwell had teamed up only five days earlier, joining Hoare and Stewart McSweyn in the Australian team that grabbed bronze at the world cross-country championships.
Hoare underscored the significance of competing in Australia.
“I’ve been very fortunate in my career to help out (in the) US system, the European circuit with the Diamond League,” Hoare told Channel Seven moments after the John Landy Mile.
“The one thing I’ve talked about with my coach (is) no matter how hard the travel is I want to come back to Australia and inspire kids to stay in athletics, to enjoy it, enjoy competing and be one of the best countries in the world doing it. So for me it was a no-brainer.”
In Melbourne on Wednesday morning, the launch of the Oceania division of On Athletics Club was assisted by Hoare, an On Athletics Club pin-up boy.
Australian running great Craig Mottram, the coach of the Oceania team, revealed Australia’s Ben Buckingham, Claudia Hollingsworth, Keely Small, Maudie Skyring and Tess Kirsopp-Cole had been selected for the Melbourne-based group.
Every one of them has a contract with On Athletics Club, which guarantees them a salary and the covering of expenses, including coaching, training, kit and travel.
They’re also able to train at the On Athletics Club bases in Boulder, Colorado, situated 1600m above sea level, and Saint Moritz, Switzerland, which has an elevation of 1800m.
“The goal behind it is quite simple: to build a team of like-minded athletes that have the ability to represent our country at the highest-possible level and be full-time in their pursuit. We need it,” Mottram told Wide World of Sports.
“Obviously we’ve got some fantastic talent. We already know Olli Hoare is part of the OAC movement in the US. To have an opportunity to build a group similar to that now in Australia is really important.
“We’ll always have one or two or three really good athletes representing Australia at the highest level, but to have now the ability to create sustainability through the development of athletes from the younger generation, so from 18-year-olds, 19-year-olds, 20-year-olds, all the way through their career, supported to be professional, is absolutely fantastic.
“For the most part, having that support structure is really important and something that I wished I had when I was running. The aim is to build something like this here and take the learnings that I learned throughout my own career and implement them here to … take away the stresses that are associated with the life of being a full-time runner. Actually supporting them to do that hopefully helps them elevate to the next level, which is what we’re trying to do: take away that pressure to allow them to focus on the day-to-day of being the best-possible athlete they can.”
Hollingsworth storms to national title
Mottram underlined the importance of recovery.
“The running is the running, right? Everyone goes out and runs,” said Mottram, who won silver in the men’s 5000m at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
“It’s how you adapt to the training that you’re given. So, when an athlete is resting, recovering, ice-bathing, dietary requirements … All those things are really important because that’s when you make the change and the adaptations after the work. Allowing them the time to do that is really, really important.”
Buckingham contested the men’s 3000m at the Maurie Plant Meet on Thursday night, posting 7:50.93 as he finished fourth.
While Hollingsworth is 17, Small 21, Kirsopp-Cole 23 and Skyring 25, Buckingham is closer to the end of his career than the beginning, having turned 31 in November.
Shaun Creighton’s Australian men’s 3000m steeplechase record, 8:16.22, has stood since 1993, but Buckingham, Ed Trippas and Matthew Clarke are genuine chances of stealing it.
”The reality is to make a final I’ll need to break it,” Buckingham, whose personal best is 8:19.79, told Wide World of Sports.
“The cool thing is I’m part of a newer generation. Me, Ed Trippas, Matthew Clarke … Me and Ed have both run 8:19, Clarkey’s run 8:22. And you hope that we’ll all push each other to blow that mark. I think one of us will get it, and hopefully if one of us gets it all three of us end up going under it.
“It’s a really exciting time. For quite a period after Shaun raced, apart from Youcef Abdi, there weren’t any Australians breaking 8:30. There’s now three of us who I think are in the top five or six (on the all-time Australian list in the 3000m steeplechase). One of us will get it, I hope it’s me, but it’s exciting to be part of this cohort coming through.”
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