Tara Murray
Western Athletics duo Jack Rayner and Amy Cashin will both compete for Australia at the 2022 World Athletics Championships later this month.
The pair, who have also been named in the Commonwealth Games team, were this week announced as part of Australia’s 64-strong team for the world championships in America.
Rayner will compete in 5000 metres and 10,000 metres, while Cashin will compete in the 3000 metre steeplechase.
Athletics Australia high performance general manager Andrew Faichney said he was thrilled with the quality of athletes who have earned selection this year and is looking forward to the team building on the success seen at the Tokyo Olympics last August.
“Our team’s Tokyo campaign inspired the nation, with history making performances across a number of events. Some of the performances we’ve witnessed since then, during our domestic season and abroad indicate to us that the Australian athletics team is in shape to continue this momentum,” Faichney said.
“This is an exciting team. Not only do we have Tokyo medallists and an incredible number of Olympic top-eight finishers, we have a new cohort of athletes joining us at this level for the first time, and that’s a fantastic place to be as a team as we mark the beginning of the Paris Olympic cycle.”
With the majority of athletes also doubling up for the Commonwealth Games just one week later, the 2022 World Athletics Championships also kick off the beginning of an immense few months for Australian athletics, where records are expected to tumble and new benchmarks are to be set.
“On this team we have a mix of experience but the leaders of our team are strong,” Faichney said. “Outside of our Tokyo medallists in Kelsey-Lee Barber, Nicola McDermott and Ash Moloney, we also have athletes that are on the cusp of making history such as Jemima Montag who has become world number one for the first time, as well as Eleanor Patterson who won silver at the World Indoor Championships, and Peter Bol and Matt Denny who placed fourth at the Olympics just to name a few.
“We also have a number of debutants and we’re excited to see them relish this opportunity. We have three junior athletes including Calab Law (Andrew Iselin) and Aidan Murphy (Peter Fitzgerald) and our youngest on the team, Claudia Hollingsworth (Craig Mottram) competing here before they travel to Cali, Columbia for the World Athletics U20 Championships. I’m sure each and every one of these athletes on our team will do us proud.”
The Australian Athletics team will put the finishing touches on their final preparations for the World Athletics Championships at the Athletics Australia staging camp in Seattle, Washington before the championships commence on July 15.
