Watch the 2025 World Athletics Indoor Championships LIVE on SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand from March 21-23.
Reigning champion Nicola Olyslagers will defend her title in Nanjing, China, where she will be joined by fellow Olympic medallist Eleanor Patterson in the women’s high jump.
It’s an exciting period for Olyslagers, who will begin her 2025 campaign in China after building her strength in order to challenge defending world and Olympic champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh.
“I made a decision to open at World Indoors from my history of the first jump of the season being high, yet it requires faith to do something new on the world stage and I want to be in a position where I am pushed to dig deep and put that faith into action,” Olyslagers told Australian Athletics.
“I have been really inspired by Yaroslava changing her run up before Paris to break the world record.
“My team decided that in order to compete, be competitive and jump higher, I had to do the same, so I have been spending more time building strength to withstand the new speed and power in my run up.”
Veterans Georgia Griffith (1500m), Jessica Hull, Linden Hall (3000m) Oliver Hoare (1500m) and Kurtis Marschall (pole vault) will join Olyslagers and Patterson, as will Australian sprinters Torrie Lewis and Lachlan Kennedy (60m).
Lewis and Kennedy have led the nation’s revival in the sprints this season, having posted impressive times over the 60-metre mark.
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World Athletics Indoor Championships 2024
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Australia will also contest two new events at the Indoor Championships, with Camryn Newton-Smith invited for the pentathlon while a quintet of promising athletes take on the 4x400m relay.
The squad is one that excites Australian Athletics General Manager Andrew Faichney, who praised its potential to compete on a banked short track that is not yet established in Australia.
“We have some fantastic athletes on this team, with no less than five global medallists and we are looking forward to seeing what this team can do, particularly as we inch closer to the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo this September,” Faichney said.
Australian squad for 2025 World Athletics Indoor Championships
Women (13)
60m: Torrie Lewis, Ella Connolly
800m: Sarah Billings, Abbey Caldwell
1500m: Georgia Griffith
3000m: Linden Hall, Jessica Hull
High Jump: Nicola Olyslagers, Eleanor Patterson
Pentathlon: Camryn Newton-Smith
4x400m Relay: Ellie Beer, Jemma Pollard, Ella Connolly, Torrie Lewis and Bella Pasquali
Men (7)
60m: Lachlan Kennedy, Joshua Azzopardi
400m: Cooper Sherman
1500m: Oliver Hoare
3000m: Ky Robinson
Pole Vault: Kurtis Marschall
Long Jump: Liam Adcock
