Great runs overnight.
Aust have potentially 2xsub45s runners at the moment over 400m. This has happened since the days of Clarke and Murphy (20yrs?), assuming Steffenson finds his form. Milburn’s goal of making the final is looking better and better!!
Sally over the hurdles, 12.73 a few days ago, just off her PB of 12.71, takes a huge chunk off that. Really puts her in the medal mix now with 12.5s
Great runs!
henry Aikines 10 "22…relay spot contender…
Congratulations to Australia’s lady coaches, Penny Gillies who coaches Joel Milburn and Sharon Hannan who coaches Sally McLellan. Sally was AOM and received a diamond worth $10G.
Also Oscar Pistorius ran a PB 46.25, so now we will wait for the political pressure to select him in the RSA 4x4 squad. It must be immense.
REPORT FROM ATHLETICS AUSTRALIA WEBSITE:
17.07.2008
Super Sally smashes Australian record
Australian hurdler Sally McLellan has smashed her own Australian and Oceania record in Luzern, Switzerland overnight, in a stunning display that saw her named athlete of the meet, and awarded a one carat diamond worth US$10,000.
Flying over the hurdles, the 21-year-old Queenslander blitzed the field in a time of 12.58 seconds, destroying her previous best by over a tenth of a second.
Her previous record of 12.71 was set at the Osaka Grand Prix in May last year.
In another breakthrough, Australian 400m champion Joel Milburn smashed his personal best to clock 44.99 in winning the 400m. It was the first time Millburn has dipped under 45 seconds, becoming the seventh Australian to do so.
McLellan, a world championship semi finalist last year and world youth champion in 2003, is quickly closing the gap on her peers; McLellan’s time is the equal eighth fastest time in the world this year (see rankings below).
Reigning Olympic champion Johanna Hayes (USA) bounced back from the disappointment of not qualifying for Beijing at the US Trials with a second place in 12.66 ahead of Jamaican Vonette Dixon, third in 12.76.
Exploding off the blocks, McLellan sailed over the ten hurdles, reaching the finish in a state of disbelief when she gazed up at the clock.
“It was really, really fast. I blitzed the start and just kept getting faster. I can’t explain how fast and how good it felt. It was an amazing feeling,” gushed McLellan.
“I crossed the line and couldn’t wait to see the time. It was a bit of disbelief when I saw the time. I was shocked it was that fast.
“I didn’t expect this result but I wanted to run fast. I am very glad. My goal is to qualify for the Olympic final.”
After a punishing training block back home on the Gold Coast last month, McLellan has shown promising form since returning to Europe with her coach Sharon Hannan after missing much of the Australian season with a severe hamstring injury.
Winning in Reims on July 6 in a time of 12.83, McLellan clocked the third fastest time of her career (12.73) last weekend, to finish fourth against a world class field at the IAAF Golden League meet in Rome.
McLellan will next line up on the blocks at the IAAF Super Grand Prix in Stockholm on Tuesday.
The strong performances kept on coming for the Australians in Luzern, with Joel Milburn also recording a confidence boosting personal best of 44.99 in the 400m.
Milburn sliced 0.2 seconds off his previous best of 45.19 set earlier this year in his home town of Sydney.
Milburn is just the seventh Australian to break the 45-second barrier.
After struggling in his first couple of meets in Europe, Milburn has found his groove of late under coach Penny Gillies and the support of international athlete liaison Maurie Plant.
At the Rome Golden League last weekend, Milburn closed in on Beijing gold medal favourites Jeremy Wariner and La Shawn Merritt in the final stages, and used that new found confidence and experience to his advantage last night.
“I went out too slow in the first 200m in Rome so tonight I took it out harder, but I still finished as strongly as I did the other day,” explained Milburn.
“It was a tough race and I felt like I’d run 44 something when I finished but I still think I have some more to come. I’m still learning how to run the race.
“I will run in Stockholm and then head to Hong Kong. This is a big boast to my confidence and I can now see what might be possible, but I’m not getting too carried away. I will need to run faster than that to make the final (in Beijing).”
The women’s 3000m steeplechase race was taken out by Victorian Victoria Mitchell. Although the first few laps were completed in a fairly pedestrian pace, Mitchell stormed home to secure the win in 9.42.24.
Queensland pole vaulter Alana Boyd also returned to encouraging form, flying over the bar in a season’s best of 4.50m to finish in second place. Brazil’s Fabiana Murer, the 2008 World Indoor bronze medallist, set a new meeting record by clearing 4.70m on her third attempt.
Dropping down to the 400m, Tamsyn Lewis recorded a respectable 52.4* sec to place fourth over the one lap.
The action continues in Paris on Friday night, with Tamsyn Lewis (800m), Jarrod Bannister (Javelin), Steve Hooker (Pole Vault), Paul Burgess (Pole Vault) and Sarah Jamieson (1500m) all lining up against talent-laden fields in the next edition of the IAAF Golden League.
*Unofficial result
This is great news!
Big congrats to Fabrice as well. Bad luck for PJ and Geoff though.
as long as they except as a possiblity that he’ll get decked in a changeover. but i mean they only have 1 or 2 guys faster than him this year over 400m and two hurdlers who might be faster over the flat and one who is probably a bit slower , and an 800 guy who probably is a little slower over 400 but a safer bet but also a potental medalist in hte 800, so obviously him stepping down to be a relay hero depends on where the 800 and 4x4 prelims are in the schedule.
i mean if they had 6 people clearly faster then obviously he’d have to stay home, but as is
sounds like he needs to believe all those split runs in training have prepared him for the last 100m.
Will be interesting to see how he goes not just at OG but over the next couple of years. He could become a serious medal contender in Delhi in 2010.
Pistorius has missed selection in South Africa’s team.