AUSTRALIA'S 4x100m relay team is no certainty to qualify for the Beijing Olympics but the team for London 2012 could very well be on display in Stawell today.

Lock these names in as the future of sprinting in Australia – Otis Gowa, Isaac Ntiamoah, Matt Davies and Aaron Rouge-Serret are the replacements for Matt Shirvington, Patrick Johson, Joshua Ross and Daniel Batman.

The new breed will line up in today’s semi-finals of the Stawell Gift and all have realistic chances of walking away with the $40,000 winner’s cheque. Normally, Australia’s richest footrace is the haven of the crafty pro-runner who has managed to beat the handicapper for a shot at a massive pay day but the heroics of Ross in recent years has turned the tide back towards the amateurs.

On Saturday the four new faces on the Australian sprinting scene all saluted in style in the Gift heats.

Cairns product Gowa, the surprise winner of the 100m national title at last month’s Olympic selection trials, is favoured to get through his semi-final off the 3m mark and attempt to become the fifth indigenous winner of the Gift.

Both Gowa and Rouge-Serret are members of the Australian relay squad which will travel to Osaka in May to try and sure up its qualification for Beijing. Only the top 16 nations on times get to compete at the Olympic Games.

Rouge-Serret, the Victorian 100m champion, only decided on Thursday to make the trip to Stawell after taking some time off following the national championships.

"We were doing a gym session and my coach said, ‘maybe you should run Stawell’, so it was a last-minute decision," he said.

"There were a few disappointed faces (at the nationals). I didn’t actually stay around to watch the final because I wasn’t very happy with what I’d done but hats off to Otis, he was first across the line.

"And it’s really good to see some young guys coming through and focusing on London 2012."

Rouge-Serrett, who is off 2.5m, has a tough semi-final draw with second favourite Richard Hankin (7m) and Peter Walsh (9m) going to be hard to run down. Ntiamoah has been around the scene for a few years but showed with his third place at the national championships behind Gowa that he was ready to emerge.

A member of the Australian relay team for the 2003 world championships, Ntiamoah was the second-fastest qualifier for today’s semi-finals, running 12.30sec from 3m.

"This is my first time here," he said. "I’d heard about it, watched it on TV and knew about the prizemoney which is a big motivation for everybody here."

Most observers believe the winner of the Gift will come out of the second semi-final which pits Ntiamoah against Sam Jamieson (6m).

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