Jewish juniors excel at NSW athletics championship
An impressive five medals were won by Jewish athletes at last weekend’s 2022 NSW Junior Track and Field Championships, held in wet and windy conditions in Sydney.
Tali Baltineshter, representing St George, won gold in the U17 girls’ javelin, with a throw of 42.47m, beating runner-up Vanessa Apel by 4.31m, and four other entrants.
“Throwing on a wet track, with waterlogged shoes and a wet body was not easy, which made my winning throw even sweeter,” Baltineshter said.
Sydney Athletics Club’s Rebecca Solomon won the U16 girls’ 2km steeplechase in 7:16.06, and her brother Joel, representing UTS Norths, earned bronze in the equivalent U18 boys’ event (6:33.42).
Rebecca said she enjoys training alongside some very competitive runners, “so we push and motivate each other … which in turn inspires me to train harder”.
For Joel, the key to winning a medal was “just having trust in my training leading into the championships”.
Two bronzes were won by U16 boys’ sprinter Zac Urbach from Randwick-Botany Harriers – the first medals he has won at state.
In the 100m, he automatically qualified for the final by finishing second in his heat in 22.34 seconds, and claimed bronze by fending off Ryde’s Tim Forster by 0.03 of a second, clocking 22.40.
In the 200m, Urbach qualified seventh for the final (11.25), before nailing 11.08 to seal his second bronze, just 0.02 of a second in front of fourth place-getter Joshua Kalozi from Oberon.
Urbach said gaining confidence in his ability has been crucial to his medal breakthrough.
“I hadn’t been a confident runner in the past, as I tended to get a bit nervous before a big race, Urbach said.
“But winning several district races in recent months, breaking a regional record, and seeing that improvement, has made such a difference.”
Other solid results included Eden Levit coming sixth in the final of the U18 women’s 100m, and seventh in the 200m final; Brody Elbourne placing 10th in the U20 men’s 800m; Matthew Radvin finishing 15th in the U16 boys’ 1500m, and 16th in the 3000m; Joseph Rabinowitz coming 17th in the U18 men’s 200m (23.40), and 18th in the 100m; and Alessia Cohen placing 29th in the U15 girls’ 100m.
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