After taking out the under 18's National Championships title in the hammer throw category, Young's Cooper Dabin has set his eyes on the 2026 Oceania Athletics Championships.

Cooper recently competed in the National Championships at Brisbane with his hammer throw of 63 metres.

While he is happy with the win, Cooper said it wasn't close to his personal best throw of 67.08 metres, but it was enough to win

Cooper said the National Championships was not the best competition he has taken part in as he only managed to secure one successful throw out of four.

This year will be the first time Cooper has been selected for the Australian team and he said he is very excited to be part of the team for the competition.

Currently his competition throwing weight is five kilograms, and after coming back from the Oceania Athletics Championships he will be moving up to the 6km weight,

He has been competing in hammer throw for the last three years, after moving over to train with Canowindra based coach Ernie Shankleton.

Prior to that, Cooper was mainly competing in discuss and shotput but was not enjoying those disciplines nearly as much at the time.

While training with Ernie, Cooper said he saw one of the other throwers training on hammer throw and decided to give that a go and hasn’t looked back since.

Over the last three years Cooper has competed in many state and all school championships, and has claimed six Australian Championship titles.

As part of his training routine to get to this level, Cooper trains twice a week with the Central West Throwers over in Canowindra twice a week, and trains another four times a week at a home built circle at home.

Looking forward to the Oceania Championships, Cooper said training is going well and he is focusing on his technique and consistency more than anything.

Cooper said he would also like to thank his parents and his coach Ernie for their support during his training and competitions.