Sarah Billings has narrowly missed breaking the Australian women’s 800 metres record, as part of a masterclass performance at the Shanghai leg of the Diamond League.
Billings clocked a time of 1:57:83, marking her personal best and just 0.05 seconds outside the Australian record set by Catriona Bisset.
The Melburnian finished in second behind Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma, marking back-to-back podium finishes at the Diamond League, after securing third place in the 1000 metres in Xiamen.
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“Today I had a really clear race plan, I just wanted to go really hard at 300m (to go),” Billings told Australian Athletics.
“My coach Nic told me this morning that gaps open up with 100m to go on the inside and to watch for it; I watched for it and some opened up.”
The 27-year-old is finding form as she looks ahead to the 2025 World Athletics Championships, hosted in Tokyo in September.
Billings said she “couldn’t be happier” having come within a whisker of the Australian record, but her main focus remains on the World Championships.
Billings was not the only Aussie to turn heads in China though, with high jump duo Nicola Olyslagers and Elanor Patterson finishing second and third respectively, losing to world record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh.
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Olyslagers cleared 1.98m on her second attempt, edging out Patterson who finished with 1.95m. However, Ukraine’s Mahuchikh put up an impossible to beat 2.00m clearance and clean sheet.
“The competition today was a big improvement from last week (Xiamen), I enjoyed it! Today I had courage, and I am thankful for that,” Olyslagers told Australian Athletics.
Australian pole vaulter Kurtis Marshall secured fourth place in his event, claiming 5.72 metres, but it was the world champion Armand Duplantis who won gold, reaching 6.11 metres.
The Australians also claimed a 10th-place finish in the 3000 metres from Matthew Clarke and a ninth-place finish from Mackenzie Little in the Javelin.
Meanwhile in Miami, the Grand Slam track has kicked off the second round of its inaugural season, with Australian runners coming home with over A$70,000 in winnings.
Australian Paris 2024 silver medallist Jessica Hull starred for Australia, finishing fifth in the women’s “short distance” category, securing A$30,000.
She finished fourth in the 1500 metres with a time of 4:07:67, falling short to Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu with a time of 4:06.96, then ran fifth in the 800 metres.
Peter Bol also proved why he is a record holder for Australia, as he finished fifth overall in the men’s “short distance” category, leaving Miami with A$30,000.
He kicked off the competition with a fifth-place finish in the 1500 metres with a time of 3:35:24 and rounded out with a third place in the 800 metres and a time of 1:44:13.
Two-time Australian Olympian Sarah Carli finished fifth in the 400 metre hurdles in 54.93 seconds. Following that up with sixth in the “long hurdles” category earned her A$23,000.
The Grand Slam Track will continue in Philadelphia on May 30.
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