Steeled by his Olympic selection snub, teen prodigy Cameron Myers clinches national title
Rightly or wrongly, Cameron Myers was last year not picked to run at the Paris Olympics.
In the early months of this year, still only 18, he's been Australia's most impressive male middle-distance runner — a standing franked by victory in the 1500 metres at the national championships in Perth on Saturday night.
Selection for September's Tokyo world championships, where the prodigious Canberra product is hoping to make his senior global debut, now appears imminent.
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On the same night that Jessica Hull secured the women's 1500-metre crown in a race described by the Paris 2024 silver medallist as "very strange", Myers captured the men's title after gliding into the lead 400 metres in and refusing to relinquish it.
He took victory with a time of 3:34.39 and in doing so defeated two of the three runners selected for the Paris Games at his expense: 2024 national champion Adam Spencer and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Oliver Hoare.
Spencer claimed silver on Saturday night in 3:34.57 as Hoare picked up bronze in 3:34.61.
Adam Spencer (left), Oliver Hoare (centre) and Cameron Myers kick down the home straight. Getty
In February, selection frustration in the Myers camp boiled over when the precocious youngster's manager, James Templeton, fired a shot at Australian Athletics (AA) selection chair Peter Hamilton on the back of a scintillating run.
"He's going so well even Peter Hamilton will have to pick him this year," Templeton said in an interview with Wide World of Sports.
Myers was beaten for Olympic selection by Stewart McSweyn, who's not competing at these national championships, and Spencer and Hoare.
Myers finished fifth in an underwhelming run in last year's national final, and the fastest time he recorded in the qualification period was slower than those of the three picked for the Paris Games.
But there's a school of thought in the Australian athletics fraternity that Myers, considered by astute judges as a genuine medal shot at the Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032 Olympics, should have been blooded in France.
There's also a school of thought that selectors should have left McSweyn to only race the 5000m in Paris. Instead, they picked him to run both.
Cameron Myers celebrates winning the men's 1500m crown. Getty
Another view held by some is Olympic teams aren't supposed to be "development" teams — an argument that rallies against the "blood the prodigy" line.
Different narratives are pedalled by different camps.
Spencer, Hoare and McSweyn all bowed out in the repechage round in Paris.
A silver lining for Myers is his poor run in last year's national final, and the Olympic snub, stoked the fire in his belly.
"Last year I was so disappointed coming off those champs and I really do think it fuelled me to get the best out of myself this year," Myers told reporters at WA Athletics Stadium.
"Sometimes in this sport you really do need a disappointing experience just to get yourself going and get yourself fired up again. So I think that was so important for my development as an athlete, and hopefully I can continue with that momentum I've got now.
"I've moved on and I'm not disappointed like I was last year," he said when asked if he was still stewing on his non-selection.
"It's more [about] how I can use that disappointment to actually improve as an athlete.
"I think I should probably safely get selected for Tokyo [September's world championships], and then from there it's honestly just [about] getting through each run, and then in the final if I'm there I want to contend for a medal."
From left: Sarah Billings, Jessica Hull and Georgia Griffith in action. Getty
Myers admitted after Saturday night's triumph that he felt overawed last year by competing against Hoare and McSweyn — two well-credentialled athletes who he idolised growing up.
"I guess it's just not having the fear of racing these guys that I did last year," he said.
"I came into last year's champs pretty rattled just [because I was] racing those guys like Olli and Stewy. Those are the guys that I watched as a kid growing up, [and] they're the people that I look up to.
"It's a weird experience when the people you're watching, then you go and compete with them. In some ways, subconsciously [you think] they're better than you.
"I think now that I'm starting to give myself that respect that I can be competitive with them.
"It requires a certain amount of confidence going into every race if you want to win it, and I just didn't have it."
The first couple of laps of Saturday night's women's 1500m final ambled by at a stunningly slow pace, by the standards of the top echelon in the field.
Jessica Hull (right) and Sarah Billings embrace after going head-to-head. Getty
But Hull coasted into the lead with just over a lap remaining and was sprinting before the sounding of the bell.
Sarah Billings challenged her on the home straight, threatening to steal victory late, but Hull held on to win in 4:11.36.
Billings grabbed silver in 4:11.51 as Georgia Griffith netted bronze in 4:12.09.
"A very strange race," Hull laughed.
"I think when you go from a little bit further than 400 [metres] to go, people ask questions of themselves. It's a long way to sprint over 400 metres.
"So I kind of just wanted to make people either commit or run for second, and at the top of the straight I heard Dad [her coach] say I had to use my gears, and I was like, 'All right, they're all there'. So I just hit it again with 100 [metres] to go. If you keep hitting it when people are coming at you, it's really discouraging to them."
