'I knew she was capable': Aussie Olympian shatters national record with blistering run
Two-time Aussie Olympian Georgia Griffith produced a record-breaking run at the Box Hill Burn in Melbourne on Thursday night, lowering the national women's mark for the 1000 metres.
And Australia's track and field hero at the Tokyo Olympics four years ago, Peter Bol, fell just two tenths of a second short of the national men's 1000m record.
Running on her home track, Griffith clocked 2:34.50 at the low-key meet in Melbourne's eastern suburbs to take down Abbey Caldwell's national record of 2:34.63 set in Switzerland in 2023.
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Griffith took the lead from Scotland's Olivia Vareille 400 metres into the run and streaked away to win by more than six seconds.
American Eleanor Fulton finished second in 2:41.17 as Ireland's Nadia Power took third in 2:44.11.
Griffith now owns two national records, having claimed the 3000m mark with a time of 8:24.20 in Norway a couple of months out from last year's Paris Olympics.
Georgia Griffith pictured during her record-breaking run at Melbourne's Box Hill Burn. Steve Alder-Goad, AGD Images
Bol, coached by Fast 8 Track Club's Justin Rinaldi, won the men's 1000m race at the Box Hill Burn in 2:16.29, going tantalisingly close to breaking Jeff Riseley's national record of 2:16.09 set in the Czech Republic in 2014.
Riseley admitted on Instagram after Bol's rapid run that his record was "definitely on borrowed time".
Griffith's coach, Melbourne Track Club's Nic Bideau, said her running had taken off in recent years.
"It shows she's in good shape," Bideau told Wide World of Sports.
"You see her at training. Her and [training partner] Sarah Billings have been training at a way higher level than they ever have before.
Georgia Griffith in action at the Paris Olympics. Getty
"... We didn't really discuss any records or anything; I just knew she was going to try to run a fast time ... I knew she was capable of running that time from what she'd been training like.
"... She's always been quite quick, but she was nowhere fit enough to do the endurance training that the other girls in our group could do [when she joined in 2022]. Now she is, and it's exciting to see what she can do."
Griffith is aiming to contest the 1500m at both this month's world indoor championships in China and September's world championships in Tokyo.
The 28-year-old is now set to race for the national 3000m crown at the Sydney Track Classic next Saturday night.
