Nicola Olyslagers and Liam Adcock of the Sydney University Athletic Club (SUAC) led Australia to a record medal haul at the 2025 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, representing one of SUAC’s most successful campaigns.
Olyslagers successfully defended her high jump world title by clearing 1.97m, securing the gold medal on countback ahead of her Australian teammate Eleanor Patterson. A stellar performance saw Olyslagers enter the competition at 1.85m, maintaining a clean series throughout. Olyslagers became the first Australian to win multiple world indoor titles. Her success in Nanjing follows her gold medal performance at the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow.
Liam Adcock backed up his domestic form by claiming bronze in the long jump with an impressive 8.28m.
“I opened conservative with the new format where athletes get knocked off every few jumps, but I was able to put out a decent series and had a lot of fun doing it,” Adcock reported to Australian Athletics.
Pipped for gold and silver by just two and one centimetres respectively, with Italy’s Mattia Furlani (8.30m) and Jamaica’s Wayne Pinnock (8.29m) taking the honours, Adcock admitted he felt he had more to give, with his best efforts of 8.28m coming in the opening two rounds of competition.
“It was the first indoor competition ever for me and the second time I’ve run on an indoor track. The hard track benefits me, but I have this problem with expectations. I thought I could have won it, but I was still stoked to see the Australian flag. It was a surreal moment when I thought about retiring from the sport six months ago.”
