🥇 Eleanor Soars To World Championship Glory

Let's do this, it's Thursday, 21 July. A couple of days ago we might have maybe sorta accidentally told you Nina Kennedy won bronze in the high jump at the World Championships. Well, it was actually in the pole vault. Our bad. We're sorry. But, maybe we were somehow tapped into a future reality because an Aussie has won GOLD in the high jump. Not buying it? Yeah, neither are we, but still, how good is gold?! 

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THE MAIN GAME

🥇 Patterson is on top of the world

Eleanor Patterson is the newest member of the 'Australian Athletics World Champions Club' which only has 10 members and a secret knock... it's Waltzing Matilda. Don't tell anybody 🤫

Golden points: Patterson won the women's high jump at the World Athletics Championships yesterday morning in Eugene, Oregon.

• Patterson, the 26yo from Victoria, narrowly avoided elimination by making her 3rd and final jump at the height of 1.98m but cleared it, then equalled her personal best of 2m with her 2nd attempt to be guaranteed a medal.

• She then set a new Australian and Oceania record of 2.02m with her 1st attempt, and as it turned out that was enough to get the gold.

• Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchikh was the favourite but she needed 2 goes to equal Patterson's jump of 2.02m, and when they both failed to clear 2.04m, the Aussie won the gold medal on a countback. How good are countbacks!

• Patterson won Commonwealth Games gold in 2014 as an 18yo but walked away from the sport when she failed to qualify for the finals at the 2016 Rio Olympics and then missed out on selection for the 2018 Comm Games on the Gold Coast.

• But a year after hitting rock bottom, she moved to Sydney and teamed up with new coach Alex Stewart and the results speak for themselves: 5th at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, 2nd at the World Indoor Championships in March, 1st at the Stockholm Diamond League event in June and now a gold medal in Oregon.

They said it: "The dream did die in a lot of ways because I didn't set foot on a track for a year, I didn't set foot in a gym for over a year. It was starting from scratch. I was sitting on the couch and it was dead, gone," - Patterson explains how far she's come. 

The stat: Patterson is the 1st Australian woman to win a World Championship or Olympic high jump gold medal. John Winter won the men's high jump at the 1948 Olympics in London.

Watch it: Here's Patterson soaring through the air to get the gold. 

QUICK SINGLES

🏊‍♂️ Swimming: Aussie backstroker Isaac Cooper will miss the Commonwealth Games for disciplinary reasons. Swimming Australia says Cooper has been sent home from the Dolphins training camp in France following some wellbeing challenges, including the use of medication. 

🏉 NRL: Tom Trbojevic wants back in this NRL season and the World Cup. Everybody thought 'Turbo' was out for the year when he had surgery on a dislocated shoulder in May. But he says the rehabbing is on track, so if Manly can make it deep into the finals and there are no setbacks they could get back the reigning Dally M Medalist. 

⛳️ Golf: The LIV Golf tour has added 3 new players but not Cameron Smith. Veterans Charles Howell III and Jason Kokrak have signed up, as has Sweden's Henrik Stenson. The field has been announced for the event in New Jersey next week with a few spots still to be filled. 

🥊 Boxing: Nikita Tszyu won the 'Battle of the Brothers' last night in Sydney. It's a confusing name because he didn't fight his brother Tim, he fought Ben Horn, whose brother Jeff fought Tim in 2020. Anyway, Nikita kept his perfect record intact with a points win over Horn to edge closer to a world title shot one day. 

⚾️ Baseball: The American League continued their dominance in the MLB All-Star Game. The American League won 3-2 over the National League at Dodgers Stadium thanks to 2 huge home runs from MVP Giancarlo Stanton and Byron Buxton. It's now 9 straight wins for the AL, but since home-field advantage in the World Series is no longer up for grabs in the All-Star game, all they won were bragging rights. 

LEFT OF FIELD

🏉 AFL: The AFL is considering a move to take over Grand Final week both on land and water. The Grand Final parade is set to return to Melbourne this year after COVID-19 forced the GF to be moved and the event cancelled for the past 2 years. So with plenty of time to workshop new ideas, it looks like there might be a new route that starts with the players floating down the Yarra River and then hoping out and jumping on the back of utes for the rest of the trip to the MCG. With land and water covered, maybe the next step is to send up some players in hot air balloons to rule the air as well. 

📽 Highlight reel: What a time to score your first goal at a major tournament. England's Ella Toone scored in the closing stages of the Women's Euros quarter-final against Spain to make it 1-1. The match went to extra time. Check here for the result. 

📸 Photo finish: USWNT star Alex Morgan has one-upped Aussie golfer Cameron Smith when it comes to drinking out of trophies...

THE POLLING BOOTH

Wednesday's result: 63% reckon there's no need for sport on Christmas Day. 

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

• 🥇 7:55am - Athletics - World Championships, Day 6 - University of Oregon, Oregon - Foxtel, Kayo

• 🏉 7:50pm - NRL - Eels v Broncos - CommBank Stadium, Parramatta - Channel 9, Foxtel, Kayo

• 🚴‍♂️ 9:30pm - Cycling - Tour de France, Stage 18 - Lourdes to Hautacam - SBS

All times AEST

THE MANAGER'S OFFICE

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