World University Games: McMillen and Murphy Magic

28 July 2025

World University Games: McMillen and Murphy Magic

NSW athletes have enjoyed a successful campaign last week at the World University Games held in Bochum, Germany.

After winning one medal (gold) over the first five days, there was a medal rush by NSW athletes on the last day adding a further seven medals to their haul.

Winning gold were triple jumper Connor Murphy, race walker Lizzy McMillen and two members of the victorious women’s 4x100m relay team – Olivia Inkster and Kristie Edwards. NSW athletes also won silver medals in the race walking teams event – McMillen, Isaac Beacroft and Allanah Pitcher. While in the women’s triple jump Desleigh Owusu set a PB winning bronze.

Men triple jump - Consistent Connor

Connor Murphy arrived in Germany seeded fifth in the triple jump with a seasons best of 16.64m. He had placed 4th at the last edition of the Games in 2023. This year a medal was certainly on the cards, but gold seemed most unlikely as he faced tough competition from 2025 world number two, India’s Praveen Chithravel with a best of 17.37m.

Connor made an excellent start to his campaign in the qualifying rounds. He led group A with a leap of 16.25m and was third overall.

After opening the final with a leap of 16.37m, Connor stretched out to 16.67m on his second attempt, a mark which would be sufficient to hold off any competitors in the event. Connor did extend his best to 16.77m in round four. He defeated Praveen Chithravel (IND) who produced a best of 16.66m.

Jumping well when is counts is now the trademark of Connor, who last year at the Paris Olympics qualified for the final and become just the second Aussie (behind his Dad Andrew) to qualify for the final in 40 years.

In Germany, Connor won Australia’s 26th gold medal at the World University Games, the first was claimed by Shirley Strickland in 1955.

Women 20km Walk – McMillen Magic

The rise of Lizzy McMillen continued on the roads of Bochum with a remarkable performance in the women’s 20km walk.  Lizzy won in a 17 seconds PB time of 1:28.18. She defeated two Chinese athletes and equalled the Games record. Lizzy was always in the lead pack which by the 15km mark had dwindled to just three. Over the last 5km she but a 14 second gap between her and silver medallist, China’s Jinlin Ning, to claim a comfortable victory. Lizzy became Australia’s second gold medallist in the event, behind Katie Haywards’ 2019 win.

Next up for Lizzy is the world championships in Tokyo which she has already been selected for.

Women 4x100m Relay – Gold for training partners Inkster & Edwards

Australia’s growth and depth in relays extended to the World University Games campaign with an thrilling 0.01 second win in the women’s 4x100m event. NSW athletes Olivia Inkster and Kristie Edwards were joined by 100m champion from Queensland Georgia Harris and Victorian Jess Milat, as they clocked 43.46 for the win ahead of Switzerland and host nation Germany. The gold surpassed our previous best performance of silver in 2019.

Women & Men 20km Walk Teams event – three silvers

Three NSW athletes won silver medals as members of the race walking teams. Lizzy McMillen was joined by Allanah Pitcher in the women’s team, while teenager Isaac Beacroft was a member of the men’s team. Isaac was a brilliant 10th in a PB and national U20 record time of 1:22.37. While Allanah was 13th in a time of 1:34.42.

Women Triple Jump – Desleigh delivers

Consistent triple jumper Desleigh Owusu delivered when it important to jump an 11 cm triple jump PB distance of 13.86m to take the bronze medal in Bochum this morning. After jumping 13.76m in the second round, she hit 13.86m in round three. Holding down second place, she slipped back to third when Czecha’s Linda Sucha snuck past her with jump of 13.89m. It was Australia’s first medal in this event at the Games. Desleigh also moved up one place, to #3 on the Australian all-time list broke her own NSW record.

Women long jump - Delta dynamic in the long jump

Over the last 12 months Delta Amidzovski’s long jump results have progressed more than her 100m hurdles, which is a strong second. In Germany she started in the best possible way, leaping 6.57m on her first attempt in the long jump qualifying round. The distance was just 1cm below her gold medal winning leap last year at the World U20 Championships. In the final Delta complied a strong series with a best of 6.50m and four jumps over 6.40m. She would miss the podium in the final, in a very high-standard competition.

Two days later she was back on the track for the 100m hurdles where she clocked 13.29 in the heat and 13.34 in the semi-final, placing a non-qualifying 6th.

Other leading NSW performances

Kristie Edwards duplicated her result from two years ago with 5th in the 200m, except this year her time was significantly quicker than her 23.54 in 2023. In Bochum, Kristie clocked 23.07 in the final, the second fastest time of her career and the fastest time an Aussie has ever recorded at the Games.

On the opening night Bronte Oates was brilliant in the 10,000m, placing 5th in time of 32:11.77? – a 43 second PB. It was the highest ever place by an Australian at the Games, surpassing Batt-Doyle’s 6th and 7th and also more than two minutes faster than any Aussie in Games history.

In the men’s 4x100m relay, comprising NSW athletes Joseph Ayoade, Chris Ius, Connor Bond and SA’s Aiden Murphy placed 4 th in the a quick time of 38.89, missing a medal by just 0.005 seconds. Both Australia and India had clocked 38.89.

NSW athletes Hayley Kitching and Bella Guthrie, ran on the mixed 4x400m relay which placed 5th,

IN BRIEF: 6th Pole Vault Aiden Princena-White 5.35m (5.40m in qual), 6th High Jump Alex Harrison 1.81m, 7th Long Jump Sam Dale 6.38m, 7th 100m Connor Bond 10.36, 7th 200m Chris Ius 20.85 in his semi, 7th Javelin Lianna Davidson 57.83m in qual,

David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW

Image: Connor Murphy in the triple jump