Josh Harris’s maiden athletics world championship campaign ended in disappointment with the Launceston teacher unable to finish the marathon in London.
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The 27-year-old UTAS AC member withdrew shortly before the mid-point of the 42-kilometre event and was ferried back to the start line on the back of a motorcycle.
Jack Colreavy was the best Australian in 45th (2:21.44) followed by fellow NSW rep Brad Milosevic in 60th (2:25:14) as Kenyan Geoffrey Kirui won in 2:08:27.
Another Launceston-born athlete contesting the marathon was NSW-based Milly Clark who recorded a season’s best time of 2:35:27 to finish 24th in the women’s race.
The best performing Australian at last year’s Rio Olympics, Clark was the third Aussie home in London behind South Australian Jess Trengove’s stunning ninth place (2:28:59) and Victorian Sinead Diver (2:33:26) in 20th, one place better than her result at Beijing 2015 two years ago.
King Islander Stewart McSweyn, 22, finished 40th out of 44 competitors in the 3000m steeplechase in a time of 8:47.53 and did not qualify for the final.
Hobart’s Hamish Peacock, 26, begins his third world championship javelin competition on Friday.
Seconds out
Launceston’s Jake Birtwhistle had a race to forget in the World Triathlon Series.
After back-to-back second places in Hamburg and Edmonton, the 22-year-old was second to last in Montreal.
Birtwhistle was among the last to complete the 1500m swim and never recovered, completing the race in 1:55:15 and 40th of the 41 competitors.
Rob Shaw
Heralding the impact of Tasmanian sport without saying "punching above its weight" is not as easy as it sounds.
Heralding the impact of Tasmanian sport without saying "punching above its weight" is not as easy as it sounds.
