Ben St Lawrence

Ben St Lawrence

Ben St Lawrence (in yellow) at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Personal information
Nationality Australian
Born (1981-11-07) 7 November 1981
Sport
Sport Track and field
Event(s) 5,000 metres
10,000 metres
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s) 5,000 metres: 13:10.08
10,000 metres: 27:24.95[1]

Ben St Lawrence (born 7 November 1981) is an Australian long-distance runner who specialises in the 5,000 and 10,000 metres.[1] He is the current Australian and Oceanian record holder in the 10,000 metres.[2] St Lawrence competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and has qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.[3] For both of his Olympics, St Lawrence qualified in the 10,000 metres.[3] He has also qualified for two World Championships, two World Cross Country Championships and two Commonwealth Games.[4]

Competition

St Lawrence's debut at an international athletics competition was at the 2008 World Cross Country Championships where he competed in the senior men's race; finishing 126th in at time 39 minutes and two seconds.[4][5] He then competed at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and finished 7th in both the 5,000 metres and the 10,000 metres.[4] At the 2011 World Championships St Lawrence competed in the 5000 metres and finished 11th in his heat and therefore did not progress to the final.[4] Also in 2011 was the World Cross Country Championships where St Lawrence finished 60th, 66 places better than his previous World Cross Country Championships.[4] For the 2012 Summer Olympics, St Lawrence qualified for the 10,000 metres on the first day of the qualification window.[3] At the Olympics, he finished 20th in his race. St Lawrence's next major competition was the 2013 World Championships where he competed in both the 5,000 metres and the 10,000 metres.[4] In the 5,000 metres he finished 18th in his heat and didn't progress to the final and in the 10,000 metres he reached the final before withdrawing.[4] He competed in his 2nd Commonwealth Games in the 2014 edition.[4] He reached the final of the 10,000 metres and finished 16th.[4] St Lawrence qualified for the 10,000 metres for the 2016 Summer Olympics in May 2015 at the athletics track in Palo Alto, California; the same track on which he qualified for the 2012 Olympics.[3]

Domestically, St Lawrence has won six Australian titles; five at the track and field championships and one at the road running-championships. At the most recent track and field championships in 2016 St Lawrence finished 3rd in the 5,000 metres.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 "St Lawrence / Profile". IAAF. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  2. Gordon, Ed (2 May 2011). "Karoki and Kipyego Clock 10,000m World Leads in Palo Alto". IAAF. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Ben St Lawrence / AUS Team / Rio 2016". Rio 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Athletics Results / St Lawrence". Athletics Australia. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  5. "Results - 36th IAAF World Cross Country Championships - Senior Race - men". IAAF. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
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