Michael Roeger (born 14 May 1988) is an Australian T46 athletics competitor. He competed at the 2008, 2012, and 2016 and 2020 Summer Paralympics athletics in middle distance and marathon running events. He has won one gold and three bronze medals at the IPC Athletics World Championships and a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.[1][2] His gold in the Men's T46 marathon at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships was held as part of the London Marathon, set a new world record.[3]
Roeger competed at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics in the marathon.[4]
Personal
Roeger was born on 14 May 1988,[5] and is from Langhorne Creek
,[6][7] South Australia.[8] He has a twin brother Chris.[9] He is missing the lower half of his right arm.[6][7][10] He played junior football at the Langhorne Creek Football Club.[6] Growing up, he played basketball, table tennis and cricket.[6] He moved away from there and to Canberra in 2009.[10] In 2012, he was a student at the University of Canberra working on a Bachelor of Communications in Advertising and Marketing.[10]
Athletics
Roeger is a T46 classified athlete, competing in 800 metres,1,500 metres and 5,000 metre events.[6][7][10] He is a member of the Adelaide area Hills District Athletic Club.[7] In 2008, when in Adelaide, he trained with Pete Davis and Marc Fairhead.[7] He has held an athletics scholarship with the Australian Institute of Sport.[10] He started competing in athletics in 1999 when he competed for his high school's cross country team.[7]
At the 2008 Victorian Country Championships, Roeger set a Paralympic A qualifying time of 4:02.04 in the 1500 metres.[7] At the time, this was the second best time ever set in the world.[7] He also set qualifying times in the 800 metres and 5,000 metres.[7] As a twenty-year-old, he represented Australia at the 2008 Summer Paralympics.[6][7] He did not earn a medal at the Games.[6][10] He set a personal best time in the 1,500 metre event,[6] finishing in eighth place,[11] and came 11th place in the final of the 5,000 metres. He did not make the finals in the 800 metre event.[12] He was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in athletics in the 800 metres event.[5][8][10][13][14] His Paralympic training included five gym sessions a week with a focus on leg strength.[10] He competed in the Men's 800 m T46 at the 2012 London and but did not medal.[15]
In 2014, Roeger ran almost a five-second 1500 m personal best (3 minutes 51.08 seconds) on 20 March 2014 at the Victorian Milers Club. His time qualified him for the 2014 Australian Athletics Championships.[18][9] His time was just short of the world record, 3:50.2 and the second best time in his class.[9] At the Australian Championships, he took on his coach Philo Saunders, who is a physiologist at the Australian Institute of Sport.[16][9] Also in 2014, he was part of the Australian Sports Commission team that represented Australia at the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge in London, England.[19]
In June 2015 in Boston, United States, Roeger ran 3:48.55 to break the Men's 1500 m T46 world record but it was not ratified as no drug test was available.[22]
At the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha, he won the bronze medal in the Men's 1500 m T46. After the event, Roeger said "A bronze medal is a bronze medal, I wanted more from myself today but the legs weren't there in the last lap. It's a stepping stone for Rio. This makes me so hungry for gold. It's my dream and it's been my dream for a long time. It's about taking the positives away from this and building on them for next year".[23]
On 12 June 2016, Roeger ran 3:49.08 in the Men's 1500m at the Portland Track Festival to break the Men's 1500m T46 world record. The record was not ratified even though drug testing was undertaken.[24][25]
Australian athletes Michael Roeger (left) and Jaryd Clifford after the medal presentations for the marathon at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
On 4 February 2017 at the inaugural Sydney Invitational, Roeger smashed the T46 1500m world record of 3:50.15 by running 3:46.51. Roeger had previously beaten the world record time but previous times were in unsanctioned events.[26]
On 14 October 2018, in his debut marathon, he finished sixth in the Melbourne Marathon. His time 2:23.31 broke the previous world record of 2:26.44 but it was not ratified. After the race Roeger said "I’m over the moon to get the world record and finish on the MCG. It has been 10 years of work really, it is the third world record in the year, it is a pretty special feeling."[28]
Roeger finished 6th in the Men's Marathon T46 at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, his fourth Paralympics.[30][31] Roeger went into the event as favourite but a stress fracture in his leg in the month leading up to the Games led to a compromised, preparation and training load coming into Tokyo.[32]
Roeger was forced to switch back to the 1500m after the marathon was omitted from the 2024 Paris Paralympics program. In returning to the 1500m, on 24 June 2023 he set a world best time of 3:44.83 at a track meet in Portand, Oregon. The time that beat hos current world record will not be ratified as the meet was not sanctioned.[33] At the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships, he won the silver medal in the Men's 1500m T46 in a time of 3:53.89.[34]
^Olivia McGrath (15 September 2008). "Cowdrey, O'Hanlon lead medal haul". ABC Local — Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 29 October 2016. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
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