By RUSSELL BENNETT
HARKAWAY’s two-time Olympian Jeff Riseley has added another award to an already glittering resume, winning the award for the men’s ‘Most Outstanding Open Track and Field Performance at the 2015 Australian Championships’ recently.
The award, presented at Athletics Victoria’s night of nights, is in recognition of Riseley becoming the first man in more than two decades to win the 800-metre and 1500-metre double at the Australian Athletics Championships.
He became the first man to win both middle-distance events at the nationals since Simon Doyle way back in 1991.
“The aim was to win two in Australia,” Riseley told the Athletics Australia website shortly after the competition.
“Running well when I’m here means a lot to me – it’s where a lot of the boys that I do the hard miles with compete – but with 80 metres to go I thought geez and then with 30 or so to go I had a quick look, and I was like, yeah. I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy after a race.
“It shows how good a shape I am in and I’m happy.
“We probably haven’t had an athlete since Simon that could do both, and it makes me feel good that I am in that sort of company.”
Riseley took out the 1500m with a time of 3 minutes, 43.8 seconds ahead of Ryan Gregson with 3:44.7. He beat multiple national record-holder Alex Rowe over the line in the 800 with a time of 1:47.13.
Now 28-years-old, Riseley competed in his second Olympic Games in London, after debuting at Beijing in 2008. He was selected in the 800-metres but, despite running an A-qualifying time in a Monaco lead-up event, wasn’t an automatic selection for the 1500-metres.
He was ultimately knocked out in the heats of the 800m in London – an event which Kenyan superstar David Rudisha won.
Four years earlier in Beijing he competed in the fastest 1500m heat in Olympic history, before missing out on the Delhi Commonwealth Games due to injury.
