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Ashley Moloney

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Ashley Moloney
Personal information
Born (2000-03-13) 13 March 2000 (age 24)
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Height193 cm (6 ft 4 in)
Sport
CountryAustralia Australia
SportAthletics
EventDecathlon
Coached bySteve Rippon
Achievements and titles
Personal bestsDecathlon: 8649 (AR)
Medal record
Men's track and field
Representing  Australia
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2020 Tokyo Decathlon
World Indoor Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Belgrade Heptathlon
World Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place 2018 Tampere Decathlon
Oceania Athletics Championships
Gold medal – first place 2024 Suva Decathlon

Ashley Moloney (born 13 March 2000) is an Australian decathlete.[1] He won bronze at the 2020 Olympic Games, the first Australian to win an Olympic medal in the decathlon.

Early years

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Moloney attended school in Browns Plains, a suburb in Logan Qld. Moloney was the fastest at primary school and enjoyed the crowd that gathered when he broke school high jump records. He competed in jumps, triple/high/pole and sprints for his school, region and state.[2] In 2015, aged 15, he won the Australian All Schools U16 high jump title with a leap of 2.00 metres. Moloney then he competed in his first combined event on just two weeks of training.[citation needed]

Moloney's coach, Eric Brown, believed that Moloney could make the Olympics as a decathlete with a lot of hard work. In early 2016, in his second competition, he won the national U18 title, just days after he turned 16. In September 2016, he tallied 7328 with a sub-11 100m, 14+ metres in the shot, sub-14 hurdles, 4.60m vault and 4:50 1500m.[2]

Achievements

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In 2017 Moloney broke the U18 Australian Decathlon Points Record [3] previously held by Jake Stein.

He won the gold medal at the 2018 World Junior Championships in Tampere.[4] In achieving this result, Moloney broke the Competition Record, previously held by Niklas Kaul, and the Oceania Junior Record previously held by Cedric Dubler.[5] At the mid-2019 Oceania Championships, while still a teenager, Moloney scored 8103 points with the senior implements, raising the prospect of qualifying for the 2020 Olympics. Although injury in early 2020 threatened Ash's Olympic dream, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the Tokyo Olympics to be postponed and Ash and his training partner Cedric Dubler were able to qualify for them at the end of 2020. In doing so Moloney broke the Australian senior and Oceanian records for the Decathlon, increasing Jagan Hames's previous records by 2 points to 8492 points.[6]

In winning bronze at the 2020 Olympic Games, the first Australian decathlete to medal at an Olympics, he further improved the Oceanian and Australian record to 8649 points.[7] Needing to complete the final 1500m event within several seconds of his closest points competitors, or better, the efforts of Ashley's fellow Australian decathlete Cedric Dubler to motivate him in the final stages of this race were lauded by the Australian and even world media as one of the most memorable moments of the Tokyo Olympics.[8][9]

Ash competed in the 2022 World Indoor Athletics Championships in the Men's Heptathlon where he finished the first day's competition in third place with 3,551 points. He finished in 3rd place with 6344 points, an Oceania Area Record and the highest third place tally ever for an indoor heptathlon.

Personal bests

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Outdoor

As of 7 July 2024[1]
Event Performance Location Date Points
Decathlon 8649 points AR NR Tokyo 4-5 August 2021 8649 points
100 metres 10.34 sec (0.0 m/s) Tokyo 4 August 2021 1013 points
Long jump 7.82 m Beograd 18 March 2022 1099 points
Shot put 15.20 m Götzis 27 May 2023 802 points
High Jump 2.11 m Brisbane 19 December 2020 906 points
Tokyo 4 August 2021
400 metres 45.82 sec Brisbane 19 December 2020 1017 points
110 metres hurdles 14.08 sec (−1.0 m/s) Tokyo 5 August 2021 964 points
Discus throw 46.80 m Suva 3 June 2024 819 points
Pole vault 5.10 m Beograd 19 March 2022 1021 points
Javelin throw 57.77 m Brisbane 20 December 2020 704 points
1500 metres 4:39.19 sec Tokyo 5 August 2021 685 points
Virtual Best Performance 8776 points

Indoor

Event Performance Location Date Points
Heptathlon 6344 points AR NR Belgrade, Serbia 18-19 March 2022 6344 points
60 metres 6.70 sec Belgrade 18 March 2022 1097 points
Long jump 7.82 m Belgrade 18 March 2022 1032 points
Shot put 13.89 m Belgrade 18 March 2022 758 points
High Jump 2.02 m Belgrade 18 March 2022 932 points
60 metres hurdles 7.88 sec Belgrade 19 March 2022 1012 points
Pole vault 5.10 m Belgrade 19 March 2022 941 points
1000 metres 2.43.01 sec Belgrade 19 March 2022 840 points
Virtual Best Performance 6344 points

International competition record

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Year Competition Venue Position Event Result
Representing  Australia
2018 World Junior Championships Tampere, Finland 1st Decathlon (Junior) 8190 CR, AJR
7th 4 x 400m relay 3:09:31
2019 Hypo-Meeting Götzis, Austria 13th Decathlon 8038
Oceania Championships Townsville, Australia 1st Decathlon 8103
2021 Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan 3rd Decathlon 8649
2022 World Indoor Championships Belgrade, Serbia 3rd Heptathlon 6344
World Championships Eugene, United States Decathlon DNF
2023 Hypo-Meeting Götzis, Austria Decathlon DNF
World Championships Budapest, Hungary Decathlon DNF
2024 Olympic Games Paris, France Decathlon DNF

Personal life

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Moloney joined the Jimboomba Little Athletics Club when he was 12 years old.[10] He hails from Logan in Southeast Queensland. He attended Regents Park State School and Browns Plains State High School.[11][12]

References

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  1. ^ a b Ashley Moloney | Profile | worldathletics.org Accessed 5 August 2021
  2. ^ a b "Ash Moloney". Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
  3. ^ Athletics Australia - Records Accessed 15 July 2018
  4. ^ Tampere 2018 Results Accessed 13 July 2018
  5. ^ Moloney and Haasbroek Gold and Silver in Tampere Accessed 15 July 2018
  6. ^ Moloney breaks Oceania decathlon record with 8492 in Brisbane Accessed 19 March 2022
  7. ^ "Ashley Moloney secures Australia's first Olympic decathlon medal with bronze in Tokyo". www.abc.net.au. 5 August 2021. Archived from the original on 5 August 2021. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  8. ^ "Tokyo Olympics: Seven moments that moved us". www.abc.net.au. 8 August 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  9. ^ "Tokyo delivered, and reminded us what really matters". Fox Sports. 8 August 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  10. ^ McLennan, Matt (5 August 2021). "'He was always a good jumper' - tributes to Ash Moloney begin". Redland City Bulletin. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  11. ^ Kennedy, Paul (6 August 2021). "Ash Moloney's decathlon bronze medal at Tokyo Olympics just the beginning for 21-year-old star, coach says". ABC News. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  12. ^ "How an Origin great helped our bronzed Olympian Ash". Courier Mail. 6 August 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
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Records
Preceded by IAAF U20 World Championships Competition Record
11 July 2018 – present
Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by Oceanian Junior Decathlon
11 July 2018 – present
Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by Australia U18 Decathlon
30 March 2017 – present
Succeeded by
Incumbent