Former CHB athlete makes her mark on Australian Athletics Championships

The senior women heptathlon participants with Briana Stephenson, front centre.

The Australian Athletics Championships were held recently at the SA Stadium in Adelaide. Former Central Hawke’s Bay athlete Briana Stephenson competed as a NZ exhibition athlete, alongside former Gisborne girl, Maddie Wilson, the current NZ heptathlon national champion. They took on 16 of Australia’s best heptathletes.

After day 1 of the 2-day event, Stephenson had snuck into 3rd position by 18 points. The gold and silver positions were almost clear-cut from this point, with two Australian representatives well ahead and Stephenson in a full-on tussle with Queenslander and Australian rep, Emelia Surch, for the bronze medal.

Stephenson had run a 13.79s (wind 0.3) 100m hurdles race, for 4th overall. A 3rd placing and 1.75m in high jump followed. Despite her recent struggles with shotput, she managed a season best of 10.12m, 11th in the competition rankings. The day ended with her winning the 200m in 24.60s (wind -1.8), a legal season best. This was run into a strong headwind on a huge track with nine lanes on the bends and 12 for straight sprints, compared to the usual eight complete lanes.

Stephenson needed to jump well in long jump on day two because it was Surch’s strongest event. Her first jump looked huge but unfortunately was a no jump. She managed 5.76m (wind 0.1) for 6th. Surch won this event convincingly, thus moving well ahead into the bronze position.

Stephenson needed more than 33.75m in Javelin, being 5th overall, but edged a little closer to Surch. For her to regain the bronze, she needed a mammoth effort in the 800m, the final event. She needed to blitz Surch by 10s. Stephenson led from start to finish, with 2:17.71, beating the entire field home. A final burst from Surch saw her close the gap to within 7s. The bronze was hers by only 48 points.

Stephenson finished 4th out of 18, with 5565 points, saying some areas weren’t quite there, and that final blow was needed throughout each day.

She now heads to Suva, Fiji, in June to represent NZ senior women’s heptathlon.