Hi all

Yesterday the Australian Selection Policy for the 2008 World Junior Championships was quietly placed on the AA website. Point browsers at http://www.athletics.com.au/community/412/high_performance_news/2008_wjc_selection_policy

Main points are as follows

• Only athletes born in 1989, 1990 and 1991 can be entered

• A maximum of two athletes can be selected in each event

• The qualifying standard for the Junior 1000m walks are 44:05 (men) and 49:25 (women). In 2006, the AA standards were 44:05 and 49:15. So they have changed little from last time.

• The selection trials will be held at the Australian U20 Championships in Adelaide on 14-16 March 2008.

• The winner of the walk trial will be an automatic selection provided the athlete has attained the AA qualifying standard at least once during the AA Qualifying period.

• The AA qualifying period extends from 1 July 2007 to 16 March 2008.

There are very few qualifying opportunities on offer at the moment – the only certain opportunity is the Selection Trial itself on 14-16 March in Adelaide. AA has not yet announced whether there will be 10,000m walks on offer in any of the A Series or National Series meets. The document lists lots of qualifying opportunities in section 6(b)(1v) but they are not real – they are not 10000m track walks. That section is rather misleading.

Note section 5(e) which explains that, if an athlete wants to have an event ratified as a qualifying opportunity, discussions must be held with David Gynther, AA Competition Director, to ensure that all necessary criteria are in place. This is what VRWC did recently so that the Victorian 10000m title races could be ratified as selection opportunities. It was not an easy discussion so good luck!

In summary, at the moment, the only gazetted opportunity for qualifying is the trial in Adelaide. There are not currently any other races that have been ratified by AA.

There is the possibility, based on previous years, that the Graham Briggs National Series Meet in Hobart on Fii 18 January may have a 10,000m walk but the timetable for this meet is not yet public so it is an unknown factor.

It is also interesting to note that the qualifying time required for men is more or less the same as the IAAF standard but the qualifying time required for women (49:25) is significantly faster than the IAAF standard which is somewhere near 50:55, if my memory serves me correctly. One could ask why one event in particular is being targetted by AA for special treatment.

Anyway...plenty of food for thought for us here.

Kind Regards

Tim

Tim Erickson
Secretary, Victorian Race Walkers Club
03 9012 5431
0412 257 496
terick@melbpc.org.au