Groundswell- The Rise of Australia's 1500 metre men: Matt Dawson

I recall watching the Men's 1500 race at one of the televised Grand Prix Meets at the start of 2000. The race was won in a slow time of 3:42, in windy conditions. Commentator, Jane Flemming slated the performance of Australia's middle distance runners saying that in an Olympic year that the winning time of 3:42 wasn't up to scratch. She put it simply: "these guys [top guys] should be breaking 3:40 every time they step on the track"- harsh criticism, but essentially on the money.

2000-2004 was probably the lowest ebb of Australia's 1500m stocks. This point is demonstrated by Australia fielding just one runner at the Sydney Olympics (Nick Howarth with a personal best of 3:39) and none at the Athens Olympics in 2004.

The problem wasn't necessarily lack of talent or hard work, but rather depth. Abdi, Chisholm, Fountain, Mottram (focusing on the 5000m), Stevenson etc gave it a red hot crack. But the level of domestic competition just wasn't there.

Thankfully, there has been a slow resurgence since that period. Thankfully, we're in a now in a position to focus on getting runners into the low 3:30s and eventually breaking the 3:30 barrier. In 2000, we had four men under 3:40 (Abdi, Howarth, Mottram and Stevenson). By 2003, it was just one (Abdi).

By 2007, that number had reached nine (Abdi, Birmingham, Bromley, Chisholm, Fountain, Kealey, Riseley, Roff and Woods) with a plethora of runners in the 3:40-3:42 range.

At the Bejiing Games last year, Australia had two representatives in the 1500m, Mitchell Kealey and Jeff Riseley. Unfortunately, both were quite seriously ill at the time and unable to advantage beyond their respective heats. Nevertheless, their qualification has set a benchmark, from which Australia's 1500 metre men can strive to improve on in London 2012.

So far in 2009, there have been five runners under 3:40, Riseley 3.32, Roff 3.34, Birmingham 3.35, Gregson 3.37, and Huffer 3.39. Riseley's performance at the World Champs in the Berlin, in finishing 10th in his Semi-Final was the first time an Aussie male has advanced beyond the heat of a World Championship or Olympics since Craig Mottram did so at the 2001 World Champs. This was a very promising performance from Riseley, who will be looking to improve on both his PB of 3:32 and his ability to run competitively in major championship races, in the lead up to London 2012.

But the list of challengers on the injured or out of form list makes the event look very competitive in the lead-up to the London Olympics in 2012. The likes of Mottram 3.33, Fountain 3.33, Abdi 3.36, Kealey 3.36, Woods 3.37, Chisholm 3.37, Hoffman 3.39 and Bromley 3.39 returning to form or from injury will make for great races over the coming domestic seasons.

Australia's recent improvement over middle and long distance track events has been matched in other Anglo-Saxon countries, with traditions of producing distance stars. Great Britain, New Zealand and United States have all seen vast improvements in their distance runners. The bronze medals of Craig Mottram (5km) at the 2005 Worlds in Helsinki and Nick Willis (1500m) in the Beijing Olympics last year has proven that Anglo-Saxon runners, can not only run fast times, but also compete with the Africans for medals at major championships.

The likes of Coe, Ovett, Cram (GB), Doyle, Scammell and Hillardt (Aust) and Walker (NZ) not so long ago showed us that there is no reason why runners from Anglo-Saxon countries can't stick it to the Africans over 1500 metres.

My prediction? Simon Doyle's Australian record will be long gone by the 2012 Games. And an Australian under 3.30? Who knows, but there is no better time to do it than with the 1500 metre crop we have right now!

 

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