With time running out to quality for the Tokyo Olympics, Charlie Hunter has clocked the second fastest ever 800m by an Australian, stopping the clock at 1:44.35 in Portland. Running for the university of Oregon Hunter missed Joseph Deng's Australian record by just 0.14 of a second.
Catriona Bisset has broken her own Australian 800m record, clocking 1:58.09 in Poland. Her time is the third fastest in the world this year. Bisset is now widely considered a serious threat for a podium finish at the Tokyo Olympics.
Jeff Riseley has posted an Olympic 800m qualifier in Poland. After coming oh so close on two occasions recently, Riseley stopped the clock at 1:44.85, well inside the Olympic standard of 1:45.20. Riseley sprinted down an incredibly crowded home straight, dodging competitors and somehow finding an opening, to storm down the inside. He finished 7th in a stacked race, the winner was local Patryl Dobek, who posted a seriously fast 1:43.73 (PB).
3000m steeplechase runner Matthew Clarke has dropped a bomb in Townsville on Friday June 18, 2021. Clarke managed a 10 second PB to get within just 0.62 seconds of the Olympic Qualifying time of 8:22.00. Clarke clocked 8.22.62 catapulting himself to number 4 on the Australian all-time rankings list. His time is the fastest ever by an Australian, in Australia.
In an incredibly weird turn of events, Shelby Houlihan, whose name was removed from the USATF Olympic Trials 1500m start list after she was banned for four years, has found her name return to the list of starters, as of 1am Eugene time on Friday 18th June. The 1500m heats are set for 4:03pm, today.
The American 1500m and 5000m record holder, Shelby Houlihan, has tested positive for Nandrolone (androgen/anabolic steroid) and is staring down the barrel of a four year ban. She tested positive for the banned substance in an out-of-competition drug test in December 2020. Houlihan is claiming that she is innocent and is blaming the positive test on a burrito she ate 10 hours prior to the test, that contained pork.
800m runner Peter Bol has clocked 1:44.62 over 800m on the Gold Coast, the fastest ever time run by an Australian, in Australia. The mark is Bol's second Olympic qualifier in as many attempts, and is the fastest 800m time on Australian soil since the semi-finals at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. The time ranks Bol #10 in the world for the 2021 calendar year, making him a serious final contender the fast approaching Tokyo Olympics.
Norwegian star Jakob Ingebrigtsen has stunned the running world clocking 12:48.45 to break the European record and win a stacked 5000m at the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea Diamond League in Florence, Italy.
Australian 3000m steeplechase runner Ben Buckingham has posted an 8:24.39, to finish 5th at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland. The Australian steeplechase champion, James Nipperess, in the same race clocked 8:30.48 for 7th. The race was won by Finnish athlete Topi Raitanen, who clocked an impressive 8:19.57.
“Job done,” said Brit Mark Scott just minutes after he outkicked Mo Farah to win the UK title and earn his ticket to the Tokyo Olympics. Mo Farah, the 2012 and 2016 Olympic gold medalist in both the 5000m and 10,000m events, was handed his first defeat over 10,000m for just under 10 years. Farah's finishing time, 27:50:54, was also his slowest since 2014.
