![Cooper Sherman and Yual Reath are chasing Olympic selection this week at the Oceania Championships in Fiji. Cooper Sherman and Yual Reath are chasing Olympic selection this week at the Oceania Championships in Fiji.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/greg.gliddon/4f10071e-e971-452e-826e-e8c7d8d1ce59.jpg/r58_44_3213_2140_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
OLYMPIC selection is on the line for two of Ballarat's rising athletics stars this week, with high jumper Yual Reath and sprinter Cooper Sherman both chasing points and results that could secure their ticket to Paris.
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The pair will line-up for Australia at the Oceania Championships which are being held in Fiji. The championships carry points equivalent to that of a Diamond League event with strong results set to move them up the world rankings.
Reath will be chasing an extra 3cm to earn automatic selection having taken out the Golden Grand Prix event in Japan last month. Reath's jump of 2.30m at that event - an equal career best - ranks the 24-year-old as the number one Australian for the first time in his career.
Should he win in Suva, regardless of the height he jumps, it should give him enough points to guarantee his selection for his first Olympics.
Reath is currently ranked 17th in the world and has been unbeaten in all of his events this season, including winning a second national championship in April. A victory at the Oceania Championships could move him onto the cusp of the top 10.
His win in Japan was notable as it was his first victory in international competition, and in that, he also out-jumped the world number four, Korea's Sanghyeok Woo.
Reath will start as the favourite to win in Suva given his recent form against fellow Australian Joel Baden and the fact that New Zealand's Hamish Kerr, ranked five in the world, has not entered this week.
Sprinter Cooper Sherman faces a tougher test to make his first Olympics with the 20-year-old chasing a time that will earn him an individual run in Paris.
Sherman is the national champion over 400m, but will likely need to find a personal-best run in order to put his name in front of the national selectors for the individual run.
Like Reath, Sherman also competed at the Golden Grand Prix in Japan, finishing fourth in the 400m in a time of 46.05 seconds. His personal best run came earlier this year in Sydney when he ran a 45.71 seconds. He will see this event as a chance not only to win, but to also run a personal best.
He will be aiming for a time of around 45.5 seconds if he can to likely progress further.
The event will be just Sherman's second for the senior Australian team, having recently competed in the World Relay Championships in the Bahamas in May where the Australian team failed to make the top 14 to progress to Paris.
Ballarat's other likely Paris Olympian in athletics, veteran javelin star Kathryn Mitchell has chosen not to compete at the Oceania event.
Mitchell has twice thrown over 60m this season, including a silver-medal winning performance of 60.28m on April 13, however she has not competed since failing to register a mark in China back on April 27.
Former Ballarat Clarendon College student Stewart McSweyn has already secured his ticket to Paris, however, is now running a number of Diamond League events as he rounds up his preparation.
McSweyn has been competing in 1500m, 3000m, and 5000m events. At the weekend he raced at the Diamond League over 3000m.
McSweyn surged into contention at the bell and worked his way to a winning position, but lost ground as the field jostled in the back straight, eventually finishing seventh in a time of 7 minutes 36.78 seconds. The race was won by Norway's Narve Gilje in 7.33.49.
Final selection of the Australian athletics team for the Olympics is not expected until later in the month or early July as athletes continue to chase times and points to put their name forward.
The men's high jump and the men's 400m preliminaries will be held on Wednesday afternoon Australian time.