The 2025 World Championships in Tokyo came to a thrilling close with Sydney University Athletics Club saving its best for last – a historic gold medal from Nicola Olyslagers, and bronze from Doctor Mackenzie Little. With nine athletes selected for the Championships, SUAC was determined to make its presence felt – and they delivered in style.
To put it in perspective, if Sydney University were its own country, SUAC would have placed 17th on the overall medal table, securing half of Australia’s total medals at the Championships.
Olympic medallist Nicola Olyslagers capped a season of brilliance with gold in the high jump, collecting her sixth career global medal and firmly reinforcing her place among Australia’s all-time greats. In wet and disruptive conditions, Olyslagers triumphed in Tokyo – the same city where she won her first Olympic medal four years ago. The victory extends her golden run, which also includes World Indoor gold, the Diamond League crown, an Oceania record of 2.04m, and now her first global outdoor title. Her medal tally stands at two Olympic, two World Championship and two World Indoor podium finishes.
Doctor and javelin star Mackenzie Little secured Australia’s third medal of the meet, claiming bronze in the women’s javelin – adding further shine to Australia’s most successful World Championship discipline. Little struck early with an opening round 63.58m, which proved enough to hold her in third across the series. Only Ecuador’s Juleisy Angulo, with a national record of 65.12m, and one other challenger surpassed her on the night.
In the javelin qualifiers, Cameron McEntyre delivered a career-best throw of 83.03m to advance into the final. His mark stands as the longest ever by an Australian male at a World Championships and lifts him from 10th to 8th on the national all-time list. Coached by his brother Angus, McEntyre was elated: “It’s been a long time coming, a throw like that, and I’m just so happy I could do it tonight. When I saw it land, I knew it was pretty big and a PB so I’m over the moon. I’ve never actually thrown a PB or my best in a comp on round two,” he said.
In the final he backed up strongly with a commendable 12th place overall.
Alannah Pitcher opened Australia’s campaign on day one with a superb top-20 finish, powering home for 19th place in the 35km Walk with a solid time of 3:00.08.
Rohan Browning came agonisingly close to a semi-final berth in the men’s 100m, clocking 10.16 (-0.8) for fifth in his heat – just one hundredth shy of the 10.15 qualifying mark.
Liz Clay lined up courageously in the 100m Hurdles despite carrying a foot injury since June. Her race unravelled after landing awkwardly on the injured foot at the first barrier, with the setback leaving her eighth in the heat.
Just centimetres denied Liam Adcock a place in the men’s long jump final. His best leap of 7.94m on his third attempt left him four centimetres outside the qualifying standard of 7.98m for the top 12 cut.
World University Champion Connor Murphy also narrowly missed a finals berth, his best effort of 16.58m in the men’s triple jump falling just short of progression.
In the men’s 4x100m relay, torrential rain contributed to a heartbreaking finish as Australia’s quartet failed to complete the race after a mishap on the final change. Lying in fifth or sixth position at the time, the team was left rueing the missed opportunity. Despite the disappointment, they closed the campaign ranked eighth in the world, with Rohan Browning included in the lineup and Chris Ius travelling as reserve.
