NSW All Schools Day 3 Wrap: Telaya Blacksmith smashes Australian

30 September 2024

NSW All Schools Day 3 Wrap: Telaya Blacksmith smashes Australian record

Paris Paralympian Telaya Blacksmith destroyed the Australian T20 long jump record on a windy day three of the NSW All Schools Athletics Championships.

Telaya Blacksmith in elite class

Just three weeks after her Paralympic debut, Telaya Blacksmith, 16, has destroyed the Australian T20 open long jump record with her winning leap of 5.50m (1.5m/s wind) in the 17-19 years Para event. The distance broke the Australian record set by Lisa Llorens’ gold medal winning jump of 5.43m at the Sydney Olympics 24-years ago. The mark raised Blacksmith’s own PB of 5.21m set in Paris when she placed ninth. She now holds all Australian records - U15, U17, U20, open and the Australian allcomers record – the longest leap in her classification on Australian soil.

A 100m/200m specialist, Blacksmith was forced to graduate to the 400m to secure selection for the Paris

Paralympics. As she was selected in another event, she was also able to contest the long jump where she placed 9th with a then Australian U20 record of 5.21m. But undoubtedly the opportunity and leanings of her Paralympic campaign, have boosted Blacksmith’s confidence. She would have required a leap of 5.73m to make the podium in Paris and 5.82m for gold. Blacksmith is also reaping the rewards of training under Sutherland coach Jacinta Doyle, a handy long jumper during her own competition career.

Young dominate athletes

Two young athletes have dominated their boys and girls events across the championships.

Knox Grammar’s James Atkins, who has now concluded his competition program, won three gold and a silver medal in the 13-years boys events. Coached by Shaun Edwards, Atkins easily won the long jump and 90m hurdles, while the 200m was a little closer and in the 100m Jacob Copp just held him off.

In the girls 12-years, Marnie Laurence, who still has the triple jump to compete in, has won three gold and a silver medal. Her 100m and long jump wins were solid, but her 200m was staggering - by well over a second. Her only loss, in the 80m hurdles, was by just 0.03 seconds.
So what event/s does she rate as her favourite and best?

“Definitely the 200m or the triple jump’” Laurence said.

She started athletics when she was six and is coached by Mal Baker and Mike Misson. The year seven student also plays Oztag and AFL - at the suggestion of her dad, Matthew Laurence, a former AFL player in Perth.

Fast 200 metre times despite strong headwinds

There were a lot of strong 200m performances on day three and one wonders just how fast they could have been with tailwinds. But one particular result shone, that was in the 14-tears boys 200m where Kewewa Gamanga, blitzed the field to run 22.75 into a gale force wind of 4.2m/s.

The LaSalle Catholic College Bankstown student had arrived at the championships with a modest but important goal, always more difficult when under pressure in a major race.

“Well, my coach and I were discussing before and he said the main goal was just to execute properly,” said Gamanga who is coached by Olympian Fred Martin.

Gamanga started his journey in Little Athletics in the under-7s and is now in his second year back after a break from the sport. He analysis his tremendous progress has been because of ‘consistency in training.’

Other highlights

·       World U20 Championships long jump medallists Mason McGroder won the 16-years long jump with a best mark of 7.18m – the 8th longest jump in the history of the meet. He defeated Colo High’s Luca De Burnay Thompson who leapt an impressive 6.95m.

·       McGroder’s teammate in Lima, Chelsy Wayne, won a close 17-years discus from Jessica Johnston 47.23m to 46.19m.

·       In the 14-years boys high jump, two athlete Darvin Yap and Brody Watson were tied at the end of normal competition. Rather than share the gold, they battled on through a jump-off to decide a winner, with Yap taking the title.

David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW

Image: Telaya Blacksmith sets an Australian long jump record (image courtesy of David Tarbotton)