Aussies off to a top start in Israel
Australia's small Maccabiah team has already won multiple medals, led by Barry Lipp's historic first gold.
The Australian team may only have 14 athletes at the 2026 Maccabiah Games, but they are already punching above their weight, having earned several medals already, including the first gold in any sport – won last Friday morning (Israel time) in an inspiring performance by masters athlete Barry Lipp.
The 68-year-old Melburnian came first in the men’s 65+ duathlon in the beautiful Beit She’an Valley, and then on Sunday, backed up by winning silver in the second event of the Maccabi Man series – the 3km open water swim in Lake Kinneret, finishing in a time of 1:16.21.
This is the Maccabi Australia vice president’s fifth Maccabiah campaign as an athlete, but he only decided to travel to Israel eight days earlier, due to the circumstances.
He described this year’s opening ceremony on July 1, and winning the first medal for Australia at the postponed by a year 22nd Maccabiah Games, as “very emotional”.
Speaking to The AJN after winning gold, Lipp revealed he had been slightly concerned about his chances when a rare water quality issue in the river forced officials to change the race from a sprint-distance triathlon to a duathlon, with his strongest leg – swimming – being replaced by an extra run leg.
“I was a little worried, but I was just thrilled that everything on the day just came together for me – so it was a really great result to come first, and I’m extremely pleased.”
The medal presentation added extra weight to the occasion, with Maccabiah chairman Assaf Goren – a personal friend of Lipp’s through the Maccabi movement – handing him the gold medal, “making it extra special”.
Lipp said the win carried deeper significance given the difficulty of assembling any Australian team this time.
“I had support from Maccabi Australia, who kindly wanted me to still go, and I am so pleased that I did … I felt the weight of representing absent teammates.”
He added that it filled him with pride to march beside Australia’s captain and flag bearer, masters table tennis player Sam Parasol – who is in his 10th Maccabiah Games – in the opening ceremony’s Parade of Nations.
“I’m really proud of each member of our team, because they’ve gone to an enormous degree of effort and commitment just to be here.”
Sydney native Joel Solomon was full of beans in the opening ceremony – in which stars including Montana Tucker and Yuval Rafael performed – and carried that positive energy into his three open men’s athletics events in Jerusalem, earning a medal in each.
The 21-year-old came third out of four runners in the 1500m, clocking 4:26.41, behind Israelis Yuval Binder (second) and Amit Cohen (first).
The next night, he came second in a “super fun and tactical” 5km race that began steadily and peaked in a sprint finish, won by Cohen.
Just 10 minutes later, in a combined team with an American, German and Israeli, he earned another bronze in the 4x400m relay.
“Connecting with Jewish athletes from all over the globe through sport is something so special,” he said.
In other early results for Australia at the Games – which continue to July 14 – U17 girls’ swimmers Mia Goodridge and Zoe Gant impressed, winning several relay bronze medals as part of a “Maccabiah Mix” team.
Gant also won bronze in the 400m freestyle and came fifth in the 200 individual medley, while Goodridge placed seventh in the 50 and 100 backstroke, and masters swimmer Alida Lipton was due to start her campaign.
The half marathon in Jerusalem was scheduled for last night. In an earlier 5km run, men’s 50-54 Aussie athletes Tim Goodman placed fourth out of 10, and Daniel Goldman fifth.
In masters table tennis, Sam Parasol qualified for the semis in singles.
In tennis, Oscar Naar placed 10th of 16 in the U17 boys’ singles, Darion Pohl and Lior Rauchberger came third in their 50+ pools, and 45+ player Akiva Kremnizer had one win and two losses.
And Aussies Geoff Sirmai and Terry Sperber are in a Latin America Confederation 55+ men’s football team that had one win, one loss, and one draw. Sperber scored a brace in a 4-0 win over France.