Aussie sprint gun Aidan Murphy sizzles to 200m Oceania title, completing impressive double
Aidan Murphy re-affirmed his standing as one of the most versatile sprinters Australia has ever produced as he blazed to victory over 200 metres in 20.05 seconds on Thursday evening.
The gun Adelaide sprinter's run at the Oceania athletics championships follows victory over 400 metres at the event in Darwin on Tuesday evening, in which he won in 44.44 seconds.
Murphy's winning time in the 400m was only .06 of a second off the national record set by Darren Clark way back in 1988 at the Seoul Olympics.
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Murphy was expected to win the 200m comfortably at the Oceania championships in the absence of 18-year-old superstar Gout Gout and Brisbane speed demon Lachlan Kennedy – and he did exactly that.
Sydney sprinter Christopher Ius was only half a metre behind as Murphy emerged off the bend but the 22-year-old South Australian pulled away on the straight for a clinical win.
Aidan Murphy on his way to victory in the 200 metres on Thursday evening. Casey Sims/Oceania Athletics
Murphy (20.05) was joined on the podium by Ius (20.68) and New Zealand's Tommy Te Puni (20.84).
Importantly, the wind measurement was a legal +0.6 metres per second – well inside the +2.00m/s allowance.
"I was after a sub-20, but we are getting there," Murphy said.
"I'm happy to be injury-free and healthy.
"That was well past my PB [personal best] just a few weeks ago, so I'm really happy with that."
Prior to last month, Murphy's 200m personal best was 20.41. He's since ripped a 19.88 and a 20.05.
Yet the 19.88, run in the final of the 200m at last month's Australian championships, was not fast enough to win the race. The win belonged to Gout, who roared to victory in 19.67 to set both a national record and world under-20 record. Prior to that final, the national record was the 20.02 run by Gout in the Czech Republic last year.
For 56 years, the 20.06 run by Peter Norman in 1968 at the Mexico City Olympics stood as the Australian 200m record. Gout took down the iconic record in December 2024 and Norman's record has since been broken an additional five times – three times by Gout and twice by Murphy.
Kennedy, who stunned Gout over 200m at the past two Maurie Plant Meets, has a personal best of 20.26. His specialty is the 100m.
Murphy is the second-fastest Australian in history in both the 200m, behind Gout, and the 400m, behind Clark. His 100m personal best is 10.23.
As Gout, and to a lesser degree Kennedy, have drawn enormous hype, and rightly so, Murphy has flown under the radar.
"We are always going to be under a lot of pressure here in Australia; I just wanted to show we can perform under pressure," Murphy said.
A whisker away: Aidan Murphy reacts to going oh so close to breaking the 20-second barrier in Darwin. Casey Sims/Oceania Athletics
"I think us Australians can seriously make some finals. Beijing [next year's world championships] is going to be massive. Gout, myself, potentially even Calab [Law] can do some damage.
"I'm going to go and have a bit of a training block after this, and then go over to Europe and do it all again. I'm super excited."
Murphy's mum is Tania Van Heer, who won bronze in the 100m and two relay golds at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.
"I want to shout to my team – my coach Nik Hagicostas, my parents," Murphy said.
"I've had my head down for two years in silence. I'm just happy to be here right now, finally seeing it all pay off."
