Australian Junior Championships Day 3: Hill and Chase book World Juniors places

17 April 2026

Australian Junior Championships Day 3: Hill and Chase book World Juniors places

Wollongong’s Chase Grant and Newcastle’s Alice Hill have booked their places on the Australian World Junior team with extraordinary 400m performances on day three at the 2026 Australian Junior Championships in Brisbane.

Grant and Hill, who won the Australian U20 400m Championships and selection trials by one second, have taken very different pathways. For the last Australian junior team in 2024, Grant was unlikely to miss selection after placing second in the 2024 Australian U18 400m title in a one second PB time of 47.60. Going into the 2026 Australian Championships, Chase Grant had achieved multiple qualifying performances in all three sprints. But in the trials, there would be no leaving it to chance as Chase Grant stormed to a stunning new PB of 46.21, a 0.52 seconds lifetime best, 1.01 seconds ahead of the second Australian.

Grant was not surprised with his time.

“I thought I could run that,” he said. He was also determined to not only run the relay in Eugene.

“I wanted to run there individually (400m)”, and his win ensure automatic selection in the 400m and 4x400m relay.

While for Grant the World U20 Championships had been a focus for well over two years, in contract the women’s U20 400m winner Alice Hill was unaware of the championships before 2026.

“I only found out it was ‘a thing’ (World U20s) a few months ago and since then my coach and I have been working towards it.” Hill said.

Alice Hill has improved well over four seconds this summer. She arrived with a best of 57.83 seconds and this summer her progression has been 55.93, 55.17, 54.32, 53.95, 53.48 and finally 53.34. It was her third 400m in 36 hours as the schedule had included heats and semis yesterday. She seemingly cruised through the heat and semi, which included a detailed recovery plan in between from coach Tim Eschebach.

In the final her time was quick; in the last 25 year of the championships only three winning times have been faster.

With 100m to go in the race, Hill was far from certain of the win, as she was in about fourth place.

“There were quite a few other athletes ahead of me, so there's always that doubt in your mind. But the last 100m is always the strongest part of my race. So, I do kind of feel that confidence coming into the last 100m.”

After easing into the lead, over the final 30m Hill sprinted away from the field.

“I guess I sort of knew I had it when I felt the energy in my legs to keep powering forward.”

Hill was very pleased with her win and spoke about why she thinks she has made this progression.

“It's insane honestly, but I think it's just been consistent work and just loving what I'm doing. Like our training squad under coach Tim, he is the best coach in the world. So yeah, I think loving what I'm doing, and looking forward to training every day.”

Hill took a moment to reflect and how much her team around her has helped on this journey?

“They have made all the difference. Like my coach, Tim, just incredible. my training squad, my parents putting up with me with all the emotions on race day. Yeah, just everyone in my corner. I just couldn't not be here without them.

So you're the best junior now in Australia, where do you think you can go in the future, even past the world juniors and that?

“To run in a senior team with Jemma (Pollard, her training partner) one day maybe. Yeah, honestly the sky's the limit. So, I just keep progressing.”

Hill has seen up close how Jemma Pollard went to the 2024 World U20 Championships and within a year has been selected on multiple senior Australian teams and won global medals.

“Just training with her (Pollard), and seeing her amazing approach to just racing, training; I definitely look up to her. She's such a role model for me.”

In one of the last events on the program, 15-year-old Eliza Lawton produced an outstanding 5000m performance. Competing in the under-20 5000m, she ran with maturity far beyond her years in a gruelling race where there were still five athletes in the medal mix on the second last lap. Lawton ran on for a close (by half a second) silver medal winning effort 16:28.92 minutes.

“I tried to follow my race plan, but the last 100 meters was really hard - I felt so much lactic,” but mentally she remained strong.

Tallara Joseph-Riogi stunned the under-18 javelin throw field, winning by nearly eight metres and adding three metres to the championships record with her second round moster throw of 57.10m. She also added three metres to her PB set in September 2025.

She has made some technical adjustments lately.

“Recently I just changed my run-up, because my run-up wasn't always consistent. That's what I need to continue to work on,” she said.

Early on day three, Australian under-16 shot put record holder McKayla Grobler, won the under-17 title with a distance of 15.23m. Three of her attempts would have been sufficient for her to win. Second was Lowami Carati with a PB distance of 14.75m.

Callum Martinhad no trouble claiming gold in the U18 5000m walk 21:44.36. The 15-year-old won by 50 seconds.

In a thrilling battle in the under-18 shot put, Australian All Schools champion Filomas Finekifolau couldn’t hold off Victorian Connor Wilson 17.26m to 17.09m. Each athlete nailed two 17 metre throws in their series.

There was a massive win in the under-18 javelin throw (700g) by Caden Andrews who threw 68.74m, to win by six metres. Any of his four throws in the series would have been sufficient for gold.

The was a clean sweep of the medals in the under-14 girls 80m hurdles when Kristyna Van Uden (12.38) won from Bree Madigan Wong (12.50) and Laya Burbage (12.51). NSW also took fourth place – Billie Rollo (12.57) and fifth by Eliza Bosnic (12.72). In the boys under-14 90m hurdles, Ben Spadard dominated the event winning by 0.55 seconds in the time of 12.61.

In two long jump events, conducted side-by-side on day three, we saw Sienna Vassella (U16) and Marnie Laurence (U15) win with terrific jumps of 5.80m and 5.68m, respectively. It was just the start of big campaigns at the championships for these two athletes.

David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW

Image: Alice Hill on the way to victory in the U20 400m (image courtesy of David Tarbotton)