Asics Wests At=
hlete of
the Year – 2008/09
Joel Milburn
The season
started in Europe for the 2008 national 400m champion at the prestigious Go=
lden
Gala Meet in Rome, Italy, then 5 days later he ran a personal best of 44.99=
at
the Spitzen Meet in Switzerland, showing he was in great form leading up to=
the
Beijing Olympics. The Olympics where the highlight of his athletics career =
so
far, running another PB of 44.80 in the heat to place 2nd and
progress to a lane in the semi-finals, where he ran a great third in 45.06
missing the final by 0.15 seconds. Joel is now the 5th fastest
Australian 400m runner of all time, behind Darren Clark (44.38),
After a well deserved rest he returned for the domestic season in or=
der
to confirm his place in the Australian team for the 2009 World Champs in
Berlin. Joel won his third NSW Open 400m title in February running 45.92, a=
lso
placing 2nd in the NSW Open 200m. Joel finished 5th i=
n a
very strong national 400m final, but a couple of days was confirmed as a me=
mber
of the team for Berlin in both the individual and 400m Relay events,
Congratulations,
Joel Milburn