Delhi2010 – Mickle Snares Silver

WAIS javelin thrower Kim Mickle has erased the memories of her heartbreakng fourth place finish at the 2006 Commonwealth Games with a silver medal winning effort in Delhi on Saturday evening.

Mickle, who had a shortened European campaign so as to focus on the Commonwealth Games, went throw for throw with eventual gold medallist Sunette Stella Viljoen of South Africa before finishing the six throw competition in second place.

The Australian champion twice held the lead, eclipsing the South African’s efforts on the first two throws of the competition with two heaves over 60m. Viljoen stole the lead with a huge 62.34m third throw and despite Mickle posting a season’s best 60.90 on her fifth attempt that was enough for the South African to hold on to the gold medal position.

The silver medal was a great result following a solid 18 months for the dynamic WAIS thrower, a period which has seen her significantly increase her personal best whilst emerging as a threat on the world stage.

Mickle was a happy camper following the medal ceremony and admitted her consistency was crucial to the silver medal performance.

“In a major competition anything over 60m is a great throw let alone four in one competition, I think it’s the most consistent I’ve ever thrown so I’m rapt,” Mickle said.

“I thought I had a PB today to be honest, all it took was one throw and if there was a seventh round I reckon I would have got it. That last throw was a great pull but I just missed the point of the javelin, which is one of the more important things of throwing.”

Elsewhere in athletics action WAIS 400m runner Ben Offereins finished in 7th position in the final, posting a time of 46.00sec to cross the line 0.56sec behind winner Mark Muttai of Kenya. After just scraping into the final in the final position the national champion bravely tried to catch the leaders in the final straight but eventually finished as the third Australian.

Compatriot Sean Wroe claimed the silver medal whilst Joel Milburn finished fifth, with the trio to form the crux of Australia’s 4x400m relay team later in the week.

WAIS high jumper Ellen Pettitt competed in the women’s event on the weekend, finishing outside the medals. Pettitt – who competed after obtaining an injury clearance having missed nationals – was clearly still hampered by the ankle complaint, but managed to clear two heights before missing out at 1.83m. Pettitt’s best clearance was 1.78m, giving her a final position of 11th.