5000m trio to make Aussie Olympic history

Eloise Wellings, Genevieve LaCaze and Madeline Heiner-Hills have already made history separately in Rio.

Now they'll do it together.

For the first time on Friday night, Australia will be represented in a women's Olympic 5000m final.

It's been an eventful Games for the trio.

Wellings has already recorded the best-ever Olympic result by an Australian in the 10,000m final, finishing 10th.

Three days later Heiner-Hills and LaCaze became the first two Australians to qualify for a women's Olympic steeplechase final, in which they set personal bests to finish seventh and ninth respectively.

Not ready for their campaign to be over, the trio's tired bodies backed up to surge into the 5000m decider.

"Genevieve and I are rooming together, and the last thing we said before we went to sleep the night before our heats was that we don't want it to be our last race here," Wellings said.

"Because we're just having so much fun ... it's a reward for our hard work."

The woman to beat is Ethiopia's Almaz Ayana, who smashed a 23-year-old world record to win gold in the 10,000m last week.

Friday night could be a successful one for Australia, with pole vaulter Alana Boyd also contesting her final.

If Boyd can repeat her national record of 4.81m set in July, she could be an Olympic gold medallist - clearing that height would have won in London four years ago.

"There's a few little things I want to improve on in my jumps," Boyd said.

"A few technical things on the pole. Running into the take-off was quite good in qualifying but it can always be better."