Hamish Kerr equalled the national high jump record of 19 years standing, Edward Osei-Nketia and Zoe Hobbs completed a 100m sprint double and Kelsey-Lee Barber smashed her personal best in the javelin as Australia and New Zealand battled for supremacy on the second day of the Oceania Championships in Townsville.

When Cedric Dubler told his mother that he wanted to do the pole vault, Australian athletics can be thankful that her reaction was to call the local athletics club.

Australians Cedric Dubler and Sophie Stanwell were crowned the combined events winners on Friday (1) at the Australian Championships in Sydney, which also served as the opening round of the 2016 IAAF Combined Events Challenge.

Czech Republic’s Jiri Sykora continued the seesaw sequence of the second day and regained the pole position with one event remaining after he produced a personal best of 60.56m in the javelin.

Australia’s Cedric Dubler extended his lead in the decathlon after posting a personal best in the 110m hurdles with 14.08. His effort followed on from three personal bests on the first day.

Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei fulfilled his role as favourite for the men’s 10,000m by triumphing over 25 laps of the track at Hayward Field in 28:32.86 to take the first gold medal of the IAAF World Junior Championships, Oregon 2014, on Tuesday (22).

Australia’s Cedric Dubler is the overnight leader of the decathlon following the first five events on day one, the opening day of the IAAF World Junior Championships, Oregon 2014.