Olympic shot put thrower Damien Birkinhead will be one of the big-time competitors at the Victorian Country Track and Field Championships in Ballarat over the Australia Day long weekend.
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The 24-year-old headlines a 10-strong line-up in the open men’s shot put as he heads towards the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in April.
Birkinhead has already thrown 19 A-qualifiers of 20m for the Gold Coast, with 21.35m in Zagreb, Croatia in August the best of them.
He finished last year with 20.23m at the Zatopek10 meet in Melbourne in mid-December.
The Geelong athlete resumed from a break at the Hunter Classic at the weekend and won with a throw of 19.55m.
As well as throwing more qualifiers – hopefully up around 22m – Birkinhead says his primary goal is to remain injury-free and hopefully get selected for the Gold Coast.
A Rio de Janiero Olympian in 2016, Birkinhead is scheduled to take to the field in the Vic Country championships noon at Llanberris on Saturday - day two of the three-day meet.
He has been representing Australia for almost decade, having also competed at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and last year's IAAF World Championships.
Birkinhead set the Vic Country open record of 20.69m two years ago.
The championships, which return to Ballarat for the first time since 2014, have attracted 755 athletes representing 50 clubs.
Ballarat Regional Athletic Centre will have a strong representation with 121 athleties making up 281 entries.
Ballarat Harriers have 24 competitors in 57 entries (16 female and 41 male), YCW has 29 in 58 (29 female and 29 male), Eureka has 23 in 61 (43 female and 18 male) and Wendouree has 45 in 105 (38 female and 67 male).
Bendigo has the number of athletes with 145 entries, with Geelong having 132.
Melissa Duncan (Traralgon) and Gabrielle Neighbour (Frankston) will be among other high profile athletes in the championships
Duncan, who will contest the 3000m steeplechase, has competed in the 2015 world championships and worlds indoor championships.
Neighbour is a three-time Commonwealth Games (2006, 2010, 2014) hammer thrower.
