IT'S just one year to the opening of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris and it looks likely Ballarat locals will have a huge part to play at both Olympic and Paralympic Games.
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Many of our top athletes are currently overseas attempting to secure their selection on the Australian team which has hopes of being the greatest medal-winning team to leave our shores.
Here are just some of our likely competitors.
LIKELY
STEWART MCSWEYN - ATHLETICS
Former Ballarat Clarendon College student Stewart McSweyn has already booked his place on the Australian team in the 1500m after finishing sixth in a star-studded Diamond League event in London at the weekend.
While a King Island native, McSweyn spent much of his schooling in Ballarat and developed alongside Ballarat's leading athletics coaches. He faced a difficult run into the Tokyo Olympics after developing an allergy from a COVID jab.
McSweyn is known as an athlete who takes the race out hard and attempts to run the competitors off their legs. He was a finalist in the 1500m in Tokyo, finishing seventh. He is also one of Australia's leading 3000m, 5000m and 10,000m runners but has more recently focused his attention on the shorter event.
LUCY STEPHAN - ROWING
A member of the coxless fours team that won gold at Tokyo, former Ballarat Grammar student Lucy Stephan looks a certainty to be named in the rowing squad for the games.
Stephen is originally from Nhill, but spent all of her schooling in Ballarat. The Ballarat Grammar boat shed is now named in her honour.
Stephen has been racing strongly this World Cup season and is set to join the crew at the World Championships in September as they attempt to make the qualifying time. The chances are the Olympic champions will again be on the starters block in Paris in a year's time.
KAT WERRY - ROWING
Another of Ballarat's outstanding rowing exports, Werry has slotted into the coxless fours boat seemlessly, alongside Stephan.
This World Cup season the Australian team has constantly been in the medals and will likely start as one of the favourites to claim back-to-back golds in Paris.
Werry is the newcomer to the squad, having missed a ride in the Olympic champion boat in Tokyo in 2021, but she looks primed to be a medalist this time next year.
SAM RIZZO - PARA ATHLETICS
Buninyong's para superstar, Sam Rizzo has just completed a successful World Para Athletics Championships where he made two finals on the track where the Paralympics will be held in just over a year.
Anyone who spends time walking around Lake Wendouree will know the 22-year-old who is seen flying by along the Steve Moneghetti track most days.
Rizzo competed in the 800m, 1500m and 5000m events at the World Championships, making two finals. Another year of conditioning behind him, there is no reason why the youngster couldn't be in the medals next year.
JADE MELBOURNE - BASKETBALL
The former Ballarat Miners has been applying her trade in Seattle in the WNBA and, injury permitting, looks a certainty to be named in the Opals squad for the Olympic.
The young shooting forward is seen as one of the rising stars of the game and looms as the Opals trump-card in years to come.
Also, keep an eye on youngster Georgia Amoore who lit up the College scene this season. She might be a little too young in 2024 but may be offered a place for experience. She's definitely in calculations for Los Angeles in 2028 and Brisbane in 2032.
KYRA COONEY-CROSS - SOCCER
The Matildas star should be an automatic inclusion for the Olympics next year.
Still a youngster, Cooney-Cross, who spent her formative years in Ballarat, will be just 22 when the Olympics come around.
She's already a starter in the Matildas team while her focus will clearly be on winning the World Cup this year and returning to Sweden for the upcoming season, if she stays fit over the coming 12 months, pencil her in for a ticket to Paris.
ON THE CUSP
YUAL REATH - ATHLETICS
Australia's third ranked high jumper, Yual Reath looms as the wildcard of the upcoming Australian summer of athletics.
The prodigious talent, Reath is only just starting to reach his full potential and already has a world championship appearance behind him.
Australia will be allowed to take just two high jumpers to Paris, with Brandon Starc and Joel Baden each ranked inside the world's top 20.
Reath is currently ranked 63rd in the world and needs to find about 8-10cm over the coming 12 months to push his name into the selectors minds. Talk is, his training is going well and he is ready to explode this summer.
LUCAS HAMILTON - CYCLING
A 2021 Tokyo Olympian as part of the road race team, Hamilton remains firmly in the calculations of Australian cycling selectors heading into Paris.
An integral member of the Jayco-Allula world team, Hamilton was part of the Tour of Slovenia winning squad this year.
He has yet to be included in either of the Grand Tours to date this season, missing both the Gira D'talia and the Tour De France but he holds out hope of a ride in the Vuelta Espana starting next month.
Hamilton is the ultimate domestique and could find himself acting as a key support for whatever team leader puts out in Paris.
NICHOLAS HOWARD - GYMNASTICS
Already an international medalist, the Eureka gymnast is part of the Australian high performance team and is set for a bright future in the sport.
His international debut in Germany this year saw him bring home a bronze medal in the vault, however it is his all-round athleticism that is seen as his strength.
He will be 19 when the Olympics come around and could be ready to launch. Certainly though, 2026 wherever the Commonwealth Games is and Los Angeles in 2028, he will be a massive chance of earning selection.
ALANNA PEART - ATHLETICS
THE next generation of Ballarat's legendary walking dynasty, Peart has been a constant fixture at national and international competitions in recent years, most notably, one of three Ballarat athletes who competed at the World Youth Athletics Championships in Colombia last year.
Peart remains very young in a sport that traditionally sees competitors reach their peak at an older age, but a relative of gold medalist Jared Tallent, she has the breeding to be one of the future stars of the sport.
Peart is definitely one for the future, so if Paris does not happen, expect to see her name in lights by the time Los Angeles rolls around in four years.
ALANA FORSTER - PARA CYCLING
What a story this is. Forster is one of Australia's more remarkable athletes. A top cyclist, Forster only recently moved to Ballarat and within weeks became the Ballarat Sebastopol Cycling Club criterium championships.
Just days later she was involved in an horrific car accident that left permanent injuries to her legs.
Now, 18 months down the track, Forster next month will be competing in both the para track and road racing teams at the World Championships in Scotland.
There's no telling what she will be able to do in 12 months time.
FOR THE FUTURE
LACHLAN O'KEEFE - ATHLETICS
Yual Reath's training partner, O'Keefe is in every way a rising star of the high jump in this country.
Already a World Youth Championships competitor, the multiple Australian under 20 champion has a personal best jump of 2.15m.
In 2024, the 18-year-old will get another opportunity at youth level. Given the current strength of high jump in this country, it's unlikely we will see him Paris, but get set for Los Angeles and particularly Brisbane where he will be 27 and at the peak of his powers.
COOPER SHERMAN - ATHLETICS
A young sprint star on the rise, Sherman was the third member of the Ballarat contingent to compete in Colombia last year.
He is seen as one of Australia's bets young sprinters, but has in more recent times found himself competing over 400m more. He is capable of being one of this country's best from anywhere from 100m up the 400m.
MOLLY FRASER and MACKAYLA CULVENOR - ATHLETICS
Triple jumpers Molly Fraser and Mackayla Culvenor are jumping out of her skin, consistently putting up big jumps. They loom as future planks of the Australian athletics team.
The pair are rising stars of the sport and will be keen to put their best feet forward this summer as they chase higher representation.
JOSH JOLLY - BMX
BMX rider Josh Jolly is leaping his way into Australian cycling selection, named as part of a massive Australian team which is competing at the the World Championships next month in Scotland.
Jolly will be just 19 when the Olympics around, but he already making waves on the international scene with a bronze medal at the Oceania championships a highlight.
Jolly will compete at junior level in Scotland but is getting set to take the next step into senior competition.
KATIE JACKSON and LUCY RICHARDSON - ROWING
TEAMMATES in the all-conquering, national championship-winning Ballarat Clarendon College coxed-fours teams, Katie Jackson and Lucy Richardson loom as the key pegs of the next generation of roiwing superstars to emerge from Ballarat.
The pair have been named in the Australian Team for the World Under 19 championships to be held in Paris in September.
They are already members of high-performance squads and the future looks bright for these two young guns.
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