McSweyn breaks 10km record in Zatopek win

Running machine Stewart McSweyn is eyeing Tokyo Olympics glory after becoming the first man in more than two decades to win a hat-trick of Zatopek 10,000m titles.

The 24-year-old Tasmanian broke a national record that had stood for eight years in Melbourne on Saturday night, powering through the final lap on his own before saluting the crowd with three raised fingers as he crossed the line in 27 minutes and 23.80 seconds.

His time was more than one second faster than Ben St Lawrence's previous Australian-best mark of 27:24:95, set in 2011.

McSweyn also capped his massive year on a personal level by shaving more than 27 seconds off his own personal best time and cracking the Olympic qualifying standard in the process.

The versatile and rangy Kind Islander has also qualified for the 1500m and 5000m at Tokyo 2020 and now faces a big decision about which events he will contest.

"I'm kind of leaving it all open," McSweyn said.

"I'm just going to wait and see what I think is my best chance because I was in the (5000m) final in Doha (at the 2019 World Athletics Championships) and I want to go further than that next year.

"I want to try and be the guy who competes for medals."

Training partners Brett Robinson and Jordan Williamsz set the pace for McSweyn early and he had Queensland's Patrick Tiernan for company until the final lap, when he kicked into another gear and left his rival behind.

"To run that fast was probably a bit of a surprise but I think we owe a lot to Pat Tiernan for setting up that race," McSweyn said.

"What he was able to do after the pacemakers dropped out was pretty amazing.

"I know I was hurting the last 10 minutes and I was hanging on for dear life, so I think half the credit definitely goes to Pat for his run."

McSweyn is now within reach of matching Australian legend Steve Moneghetti's record of four consecutive Zatopek titles, claimed from 1989-92.

Earlier, dual Olympian Genevieve Gregson revealed she would target a spot in the 10,000m event at Tokyo after claiming her first Zatopek crown.

The 30-year-old Queenslander has already qualified for the 3000m steeplechase and will attempt to combine the two events.

Gregson won the Zatopek in 32:47:83, ahead of Canada's Andrea Seccafien (32:48.30), and would need to shave almost one minute and 23 seconds off her time to reach the Olympic standard.

"The goal was to win here, get my auto spot and now chase the time," Gregson said.

posted Saturday December 28th