Rising Aussie sprint star Torrie Lewis shatters national 100m record at world championships

TOKYO: Torrie Lewis shattered the Australian 100-metre record already belonging to her at the world athletics championships on Saturday night.

The 20-year-old rising star then admitted that the time she ran, 11.08 seconds, was the slowest she had in mind.

The fastest she had in mind?

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"Can't give it away," she said cheekily.

Her potential is tantalising.

Running in the heats of the 100m at Japan National Stadium on the opening night of the world titles, Lewis knocked 0.02 of a second off her national mark.

She's been the national record holder since blazing down the straight in 11.10 seconds in Canberra in January last year to break a mark Melissa Breen had held since 2014.

In Lewis' record-breaking run in Canberra, she was boosted by a tailwind measuring +1.6 metres per second.

In her record-breaking run in Tokyo, she eclipsed that time despite having to take on a headwind — to be precise, a reading of -0.8.

Crucially, moreover, Lewis didn't just set a new national record in the Japanese capital — she finished in the top three of her heat to book her place in the semi-finals, to be run on Sunday night.

Needing to finish in the top three to advance automatically to the semi-finals, Lewis crossed the line third.

The two who beat her? American Sha'Carri Richardson and Jamaican Shericka Jackson — the defending world champions in the 100m and 200m respectively.

Richardson took the win in 11.03 seconds, ahead of Jackson in 11.04.

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"[It feels] very, very good," Lewis said of lowering her national record, speaking to reporters at Japan National Stadium.

"It's very satisfying, I would say.

"I was super nervous for this competition because I knew in training that these are the times I can hit.

"Actually, this is the slowest time in my mind I had, so hopefully I can just build on that.

"I was so nervous coming into this because I knew I could do it; I just needed to actually do it."

Initially, knowing she had to run in a heat featuring Richardson and Jackson had her stewing.

She quickly found a silver lining.

"I was like, 'Thanks guys, giving me the hardest one'," Lewis laughed.

"But after I let it sit, I was very glad I had them because, you know, I can just run with them.

"Who cares if they beat me? They're, like, the best in the world ever, almost.

"So I just wanted to run as fast as I could with them and see how I go."

She's clear on where there's room to get better.

"I know I still have a lot of improvement in that start area," said Lewis, who, incidentally, recorded the third-fastest reaction time of her heat.

Her impressive run came on the back of an injury-battered lead-in.

As she explained to The Age ahead of the world titles, she did damage to her Achilles at Australia's national championships in Perth in April, then did further damage by continuing to train.

An MRI revealed she'd suffered a tear.

It was so bad that she couldn't walk.

Lewis used to be coached by Andrew Iselin — the coach of sub-10-second man Lachlan Kennedy.

She made a major career change after last year's Paris Olympics, moving from Brisbane to the Netherlands to be coached by Laurent Meuwly — one of the top sprint coaches in the world and the coach of Dutch star Femke Bol, the reigning world champion in the women's 400m hurdles.

The fastest time of the 100m heats was run by reigning Olympic gold medallist Julien Alfred, with St Lucia's champion clocking 10.93 seconds (0.0).

Australia's Ella Connolly and Bree Rizzo (née Masters) were both eliminated in the heats, with Connolly finishing seventh in her heat in 11.43 seconds (+0.5) and Rizzo sixth in 11.45 (-0.9).

Rizzo picked up long COVID in May while travelling to Rabat for a Diamond League race, resulting in a hampered preparation for the world championships.

Browning, Azzopardi bundled out in heats

In the men's 100m, Australia's Rohan Browning and Josh Azzopardi were both knocked out in the heats.

Browning finished fifth in his heat in 10.16 (-0.8); Azzopardi finished sixth in his heat in 10.41 (-0.6).

Browning, agonisingly, fell short of a non-automatic qualifier by just 0.01 of a second.

The Tokyo 2021 semi-finalist was clinging to the third and final non-automatic spot ahead of the seventh and final heat, but was then relegated by Dutchman Elvis Afrifa, who eclipsed the Australian's time by 0.01.

The fastest time of the heats was run by South African Gift Leotlela, who stopped the clock at 9.87 (+0.3).