Kalgoorlie young gun takes out gold

Kalgoorlie’s Tyrieze Clark dominated the Coles Australian Little Athletics Championships over the weekend, taking home gold in the U13 boys triple jump while representing Western Australia and local Eastern Goldfields Little Athletics Centre.

Tyrieze leapt into first place with a jump of 12.56m to win gold, ahead of Victoria’s Mattias Ong (12.47) who came in second place and Victoria’s Aiden Shearer (11.72) in third place.

More than 220 young athletes were selected in the U13 and U15 age groups to represent their state or territory at the Championships after spending the summer participating in Little Athletics at one of the 550 local centres across Australia.

Coles Little Athletics CEO Martin Stillman said the Championships were an outstanding way to cap off a massive summer for athletics in Australia.

"There is no doubt that performances like Tyrieze’s have been inspired by our Australian Athletics team who competed in the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games only a few weeks ago," he said.

"It's fantastic to see our young athletes make their mark on the biggest stage Little Athletics has to offer in Australia, and we look forward to watching them shine in the years to come."

Coles State General Manager Pat Zanetti said Coles was proud to sponsor the annual Little Athletics Championships as part of its three-year partnership with Little Athletics Australia.

"We're passionate about promoting an active and healthy lifestyle from a young age, with a focus on nutritious eating and participation in sport," he said.

"Our customers love sport and supporting local clubs, so we’re thrilled to be helping young athletes reach their goals - and a golden finish."

Across Australia, around 100,000 children are registered for Little Athletics. The three year partnership with Coles enables Little Athletics to provide more support and resources to the local centres and clubs to ensure further growth in the sport.