Athletics
16 April, 2024
Inkster achieves personal best
Charlie Inkster achieved a personal best in not only the overall score in the Heptathlon but also three individual events at the 2024 Chemist Warehouse Australian Athletics Championships.
Held in Adelaide, Inkster competed in the U20 heptathlon on Thursday April 11 and Friday April 12.
The heptathlon consists of seven events where athletes score points on where they finish to determine a winner.
Inkster kickstarted her campaign in the 100m hurdles on Thursday where she secured a personal best (PB) of 16.43s placing 3rd in her heat and finishing 9th out of 15.
In the high jump, Inkster jumped 1.39m and was only two centimetres off her PB. The next event was the shot put where she threw a PB of 8.94m which bettered her previous mark of 0.7m.
In the last event of the day, she ran 28.94s in the 200m. Whilst it wasn't a PB, it was her second time under 29 seconds.
On Friday, the last three events were the long jump, javelin and 800m. The day didn't start off on a great note, fowling her first jump which put the pressure on and she finished with a jump of 4.61m. The javelin was a little below her best throwing 18.87m.
In the last event, Charlie needed to beat a time of 2 minutes and 29 seconds to secure a PB in points over the seven disciplines.
She ran it in a time of 2.29.24, breaking her PB by three seconds to finish third and she broke her PB in overall points, scoring 3609.
Inkster is a member of the Eureka Athletics Club and is coached by Ricky Price. Price was ecstatic with her achievements.
"She is great to coach and works hard and whether she wins or loses, has a good crack and she did extremely well in Adelaide," Price said.
"On Friday, she was disappointed with her start in the long jump, but she bounced back well to be able to run that time in the 800m to give her a PB and that shows character.
"She is a bottom ager so has another year in this age group which is exciting. She enjoyed the experience, especially mixing it with some of the top athletes in Australia as the open athletes were competing as well."
"It's a good experience for her. They don't do many heptathlons unfortunately and it is the second one she has done in competition following the Victorian championships a few months back."
Charlie's parents Ben and Melanie are proud of her achievements.
"I am very proud that she achieved her PB and it was an amazing experience at that level of competition and she certainly acquitted herself remarkably," Ms Insker said.
"Heptathlon requires not only physical stamina but mental stamina and she demonstrated she has the mental stamina to be a top-level heptathlete.
"In heptathlon you don't get a PB in seven events and it's one of the reasons why it's a grueling event. If you don't hit your goals you need to mentally regroup and come out for the next one and put everything into it."
Ms Inkster said that she was proud she could bounce back and perform the way she did in the 800m.
"Her 800m was a standout and was one of the faster girls in the second heat. She had no one to follow and no one to chase and had to run her own race and it's a real credit to her to be able to do it and break her PB by three seconds in the process."