It was never going to be as good as Paris. Australia’s record-breaking medal haul at the 2024 Olympics set the bar so high for athletics, the team at this year’s world championships in Tokyo was always unlikely to measure up.

In Paris, Australia won seven medals – one gold, two silver and four bronze – which was the biggest medal haul at an Olympics since the 1956 Games in Melbourne.

By comparison in Tokyo this month Australia won four medals – a gold for Nicola Olyslagers on the last night, and three bronze. At the last worlds in Budapest, Australia won six medals – one gold, two silver, three bronze.

Nicola Olyslagers took gold at the world athletics championships final in Tokyo.Credit: AP

But in 2022 in Oregon, Australia won just three medals; in Doha in 2019 Australia won just one medal, though it was a gold.

Matching Paris or Budapest was never going to happen once Nina Kennedy (gold in Paris) and Jemima Montag (two bronze in Paris) pulled out injured before the championships. If fit, Kennedy would have won a medal in Tokyo. She had won – shared – the gold at the last world championships in Budapest, before her Olympics win.

Both times she cleared 4.90 metres to win gold. That was the height Katie Moon from the US cleared in Tokyo this week to win gold.

Likewise, Montag just wins medals. Two bronze in Paris, a silver in Budapest, and two Commonwealth gold. She just knows how to medal.

Then Australia’s fastest man, Lachie Kennedy, who earlier this year became just the second Australian ever to legally break 10 seconds for the 100m, was also forced to withdraw.

The upshot was that Australia’s team was depleted, finishing 15th on the medal table. In comparison, New Zealand finished fifth with two gold and a bronze.

And yet, with relay teams qualifying, Australian athletics was still able to boast of taking........

© Brisbane Times