20 July; Liam Petterson
Master of Architecture student and Melbourne University Athletics Club member Catriona Bisset continued her stellar form by winning gold in the 800m at the 2019 Summer Universiade in Naples, Italy.
In an aggressive final, Bisset ran in second for most of the race before pulling away in the final 100 metres to finish convincingly in first with a time of 2:01.20.
“I fully expected them to let me lead, I thought I would have to do that, but the Ugandan wouldn’t let me. There was some proper elbowing, full on shoving, clipping each other’s feet. I’ve never been in a race like that before, it was probably my first real aggressive race I’ve been in… it was so cool,” she told UniSport Australia.
It was her eleventh consecutive 800m win including heats, adding to her gold medals at the Victorian, Australian and Oceania Championships, as well as her sub-two-minute run at the UniSport Nationals in Sydney. This winning streak has propelled her to an IAAF worldwide ranking of 20 in the Women’s 800m.
She will compete in the IAAF World Championships in Doha at the end of September, as she pushes to be selected for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Bachelor of Science student and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Jemima Montag, also an Athletics Club member, scored a silver medal in the Women’s 20km Racewalk.
In searing 34-degree heat, Montag finished in a time of 1:33.57, 27 seconds behind fellow Australian Katie Hayward.
“It was hot out there, but it’s such a pleasure to watch your teammate succeed like that,” Montag told the Melbourne University Athletics Club.
“If I had to be silver behind anyone, I am really happy that it was Katie.”
The two combined with 16th-placed Philippa Huse (Monash University) to claim the team gold medal ahead of Ukraine in second and China in third.
Rounding out Athletics results were Elizabeth Hedding (2018 Commerce alumna), who finished 8th in the long jump, and Georgia Hansen (Bachelor of Commerce), who finished 10th in the 1500m.
In other results, the University’s 2018 Male Athlete of the Year Edward Fitzgerald (Bachelor of Science) finished 4th as part of the Men’s Foil team in Fencing, losing to Russia in the bronze medal match.
Noam Tidhar (Master of Structural Engineering) made the round of 16 in the 66kg category of Judo, while Sophie Johnson (Bachelor of Commerce) finished 8th in the 3m Synchronised Springboard in Diving.
Nicholas Hallam (Bachelor of Commerce) bowed out in the Men’s Water Polo quarter finals after finishing 4th in Group B, while Steven Phan (Doctor of Medicine) was unable to make it out of his group in Table Tennis.
Rounding out our students’ results was Mackenzie Keenan (master of Architecture) who finished 12th in the semi-final of the Women’s 400m Hurdles, and 5th in her heats in the 4x400m relay, competing for New Zealand.