{"id":572860,"date":"2026-08-03T06:19:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T06:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/572860\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T06:19:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T06:19:14","slug":"australias-golden-age-in-track-and-field-how-they-became-such-a-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/572860\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s \u2018golden age\u2019 in track and field: How they became such a force"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI\u2019m excited for Australian athletics, but I also feel like the best is yet to come,\u201d said Nicola Olyslagers.<\/p>\n

It was August 2025 when the athlete from New South Wales said those words. She had just won the high jump at the Diamond League finals in Zurich, Switzerland, clearing an Oceania record of 2.04m to earn her first title on the premier athletics circuit.<\/p>\n

Olyslagers\u2019 excitement stemmed from recent success. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Australia had their best track and field medal haul (seven) since winning 12 on home soil in Melbourne in 1956<\/a>. She took silver in the French capital, with Eleanor Patterson earning bronze, the first time two Australians medaled in the same field event at a Games.<\/p>\n

A year later, Lachlan Kennedy declared this the \u201cgolden age\u201d for Australia in track and field.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got a medal in every event \u200cwe \u2060competed in,\u201d the 22-year-old told Australian media, per Reuters, after winning silver in the men\u2019s 100m at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in a national record 9.85 seconds, the joint-fifth fastest time this year. \u201cAussie track is clearly in the best spot it\u2019s ever been and \u200bour team \u200bis so \u2060strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a real golden age with a lot of \u200byoungsters and a lot of good \u200bveteran \u2060talent as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recent years have seen repeat records for Australia at World Championships and Olympics, and best-ever returns for podium spots.<\/p>\n

Success breeds success, and Australia topped the track and field medal table for the third successive Commonwealth Games, a quadrennial multi-sport event contested mainly by nations that were part of the British Empire. Seven of the team\u2019s 12 golds came in one record-breaking day, with the country sweeping the podium in the women\u2019s mile and the 10,000m race walk.<\/p>\n

The highlights in Scotstoun Stadium: the women\u2019s mile, the final event. Abbey Caldwell won gold, Jess Hull took silver and Claudia Hollingsworth kicked hard for bronze. Rose Davies became the first woman in Games history to win 5,000m and 10,000m titles at the same edition. Ky Robinson earned silver and gold over those distances in the men\u2019s races.<\/p>\n

There was also an Australian 1-2 finish in the women\u2019s high jump (Patterson and Olyslagers). Kennedy and Torrie Lewis won 100m medals with Oceania-record runs, as Lewis became the first Australian woman to run under 11 seconds. Kurtis Marschall claimed his third consecutive Commonwealth pole vault title. Matthew Denny defended his discus crown, and Mackenzie Little won the women\u2019s javelin.<\/p>\n

And this is without mentioning rising star Gout Gout, the quickest teenager in history over 200m (19.67s) and already 17th on the all-time list.\u00a0He\u2019s expected, one day, to contend for global medals<\/a>, though the 18-year-old\u2019s season was curtailed by a hamstring tear.<\/p>\n

\"Lachlan<\/p>\n

\n Lachlan Kennedy won silver for Australia in the men\u2019s 100m with an area record 9.85 seconds. (Dean Mouhtaropoulos \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

But how has Australia turned itself into an elite track and field nation? To answer that, there first needs to be an understanding of the country\u2019s sporting fabric.<\/p>\n

Australian rules football and rugby league are major sports, as are cricket and soccer. It is an outstanding swimming nation \u2014 second to the United States for medals at seven of the past eight Olympics \u2014 and, as a general rule, children are raised on a multi-sport diet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the most important thing,\u201d said Aidan Murphy, a versatile sprinter who is the second-quickest Australian man over 200m behind Gout (19.88s). \u201cI found what I was good at because I tried so many things.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did soccer, water polo, surf lifesaving, BMX \u2014 that was my favorite sport. I transitioned to athletics at 14 or 15, it was the last sport I chose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting on his career path, Murphy said it made him enjoy track and field more. \u201cSince I didn\u2019t have to grow up in it, I never really found any competition anxiety,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Plenty of others committed to track and field late. Kennedy, a world indoor 60m silver medalist last year, played junior international rugby union before switching to athletics aged 17. Denny, who won discus bronze at the 2024 Olympics, played both rugby codes in his mid-teens.<\/p>\n

Stewart McSweyn, who held the Australian records for the mile and 10,000m, grew up playing cricket, Aussie rules and tennis. Gout was a soccer player in his youth, as was Olympic and World middle-distance medalist Hull.<\/p>\n

In an alternative universe, Hollingsworth and Peter Bol would be professionals in Aussie rules and basketball respectively. Instead, they are 800m runners. Ollie Hoare, Commonwealth 1500m champion in 2022, swam at state level.<\/p>\n

You get the point.<\/p>\n

\"Kurtis<\/p>\n

\n Kurtis Marschall celebrates after winning gold in the men\u2019s pole vault at the Commonwealth Games. (Dean Mouhtaropoulos \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

In Australia, they have Little Athletics, which runs primarily as weekend sessions for youngsters throughout the Australian summer (September to April). First started in the 1960s, it\u2019s a nationwide, grassroots initiative, with a focus on fundamental skills \u2014 running, jumping, and throwing. There are competition meets and cross-country in the winter, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a lot of kids, that\u2019s their first look at athletics,\u201d Andrew Faichney, the general manager of high performance at Athletics Australia, told The Athletic last summer. \u201cIt\u2019s always been a key component of the school sporting system.\u201d The aim, he added, is that youngsters \u201cdon\u2019t have to go too far\u201d to try track and field, thanks to multiple locations in major cities. It means talent can be paired with the right coaching.<\/p>\n

Little Athletics is how Olyslagers and Patterson discovered high jump, and was the route into pole vault for Nina Kennedy and Marschall \u2014 that jumping quartet boasts 28 senior international medals, and all have won gold at an Olympics, World Championships and\/or Commonwealth Games.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt all comes back to coaches,\u201d Faichney said. \u201cIf we\u2019ve got really good coaches, that\u2019s where we\u2019re going to get success. It\u2019s because of their technical and tactical components, but also they attract the good athletes into those event groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Craig Pickering is the director of performance sustainability at Athletics Australia, responsible for pathways and performance support (sports science, sports medicine, data science), and research and innovation.<\/p>\n

In the 2000s, Pickering was an international sprinter for Great Britain. \u201cWhen I was competing, Australia had generally small teams with a couple of athletes doing really well. The volume of athletes (now) has exploded,\u201d he said over a video call last July. \u201cWe\u2019re getting more medals than ever at World Championships and Olympics, but also at the youth level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pickering pointed to the record 14 medals<\/a> (two golds, seven silvers, five bronzes), including six in one evening session at Hayward Field, won at the under-20s world championships two summers ago.<\/p>\n

There is no rush to fast-track those youngsters to the big stage \u2014 that includes Gout, Hollingsworth, Lewis and Cameron Myers, the fastest teenager over a mile. But for injury, Gout would have gone to the world under-20s this year, hoping to improve on his 200m silver from 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to accelerate them into our senior program (too) quickly,\u201d Faichney said. \u201cOur view is of a longer-term perspective. We want them to gradually get to that point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy is a perfect example. In 2022, five years after his decision to pursue track, the then-18-year-old qualified to race the 200m at the senior world championships in Eugene, Oregon. He still went to Colombia two weeks later for the under-20 equivalent. This year, at 22, he anchored the 4x400m Australia men\u2019s team to an Oceanic-record time \u2014 and the sixth-quickest by any team \u2014 for bronze at the World Relays.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe probably wouldn\u2019t have anticipated such success in the sprints 10 years ago,\u201d Faichney said candidly.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s why they are investing time and money into relays, knowing the global medal potential that this crop has. On Saturday, Australia won Commonwealth gold in the men\u2019s 4x100m for the first time since 1974, beating Olympic champions Canada in the process.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Josh Azzopardi, Lachlan Kennedy, Calab Law, and Rohan Browning won gold in the men\u2019s 4x100m relay on Saturday. (Paul Harding \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt isn\u2019t one (specific) thing,\u201d Pickering stressed, regarding factors behind the collective development. It\u2019s an obvious point but one worth considering in the complicated world of athlete development.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started to engage coaches a lot more proactively, that has made a big difference,\u201d Pickering added. \u201cWe tend to put them in charge of decision-making. It used to be perceived that we would make decisions for them, and they\u2019d have to do it. There\u2019s less conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n

Athletes have support staff who work with them all season, and they only see their national team coaches at camps or major championships.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe certainly don\u2019t want to be jumping down their throats or getting too close,\u201d Faichney said. \u201cThey are young and getting better, and it\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

As successful as Australia\u2019s domestic system continues to be \u2014 they have institutes of sport in every state \u2014 they are smart enough to know that their talent can flourish abroad, too. In March 2011, they opened a European training center in Varese, northern Italy, to offer all their Olympians a \u201chome from home,\u201d which is especially beneficial for track and field athletes who spend May to September competing on the circuit in the northern hemisphere.<\/p>\n

Recent years have also seen a rise in the number of Australians attending American colleges. The standouts include Hoare and Hull, both NCAA D1 champions over 1500m \u2014 Hoare for the University of Wisconsin, while Hull was an Oregon Duck. Adam Spencer, who is following in Hoare\u2019s footsteps, won world indoor 1500m bronze this March.<\/p>\n

In fact, the entire mixed relay team that won gold at the World Cross Country Championships in January went to U.S. colleges: Hoare, Hull, plus Linden Hall (Florida State) and Jack Anstey (Illinois State).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Eleanor Patterson and Nicola Olyslagers earned Australia a 1-2 in the women\u2019s high jump at the Commonwealth Games. (Michael Steele \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Australia take the Commonwealth Games more seriously than most. They have a history of success at the event, and, located halfway through the Olympic cycle, it offers a stepping stone.<\/p>\n

The country led the overall medal table by a considerable margin, winning 68 gold medals and 163 overall, significantly higher than the 27 golds and 106 overall medals second-placed England won.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The big dream is what Australia might \u2014 and, based on current success, should \u2014 achieve in six years when the Olympics go to Brisbane, 32 years on from the Sydney Games.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the UK got awarded the 2012 Olympics, more money came into the sport. We\u2019re seeing the same thing now,\u201d Pickering said. \u201cThere\u2019s a direct correlation in elite sport: The more money you have, the better you can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Faichney has worked at Australian athletics in various capacities since 2011, and said the post-Paris Olympics funding increase they received, their first for more than a decade, was \u201creally beneficial.\u201d<\/p>\n

For instance, a grant was given to James Fitzpatrick, the head pole vault coach at the Western Australia Institute of Sport, for his project entitled \u201cwinning after winning<\/a>.\u201d He trains Kennedy, the Olympic pole vault champion who, this July, jumped 4.95m, an Oceanic record and joint-fifth all-time. He wants to coach her to defend her title, something only Yelena Isinbayeva has managed (winning in 2004 and 2008).<\/p>\n

That is where Australia are now. They have earned their place at the top table because their athletes consistently make global podiums.<\/p>\n

If Olysagers is right, then the future is even brighter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI\u2019m excited for Australian athletics, but I also feel like the best is yet to come,\u201d said Nicola…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[972,93451,85,46,6661,105],"class_list":["post-572860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-australia","tag-global-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-olympics","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}