Australian middle distance runner 19-year-old Peyton Craig has produced another impressive run on the global stage to prove he belongs with the best in the world.
Peyton was sixth in his 800m semi-final and shaved 0.01 off his personal best time with 1:44.11. He started the year with a best time of 1:47.52 and is now only 0.12 seconds of Joseph Deng’s Australian record.
“You can't ask for much more than that, really,” Peyton said.
“Obviously being the person I am, it's a bit better sweet. I would have loved to be running in the final, but honestly, I can kind of take peace out of knowing I delivered my best today and sometimes your best just isn't good enough.
“Give me a bit more time and I'll definitely be good enough.”
In the third and last semi-final, the pace was on from Kenyan star Emmanuel Wanyonyi throughout and the top four from this race all progressed to the Olympic final - fourth place was 1:43.69.
Peyton pushed forward in the first 200m, as he’d done in the heat, and was sitting third. He had drifted to sixth with 200m to run but he was in touch and preparing for a final sprint to move up the field.
He was forced wide though, and the runners in front had just as much pace left, and he wasn’t able to improve his placing.
“What's really satisfying is I know I gave myself every shot. I didn't put myself in a bad position in the race at all,” he said.
“With 100 to go, I generally thought I might have gotten past those guys and it just happened to be the Spanish guy just pulled out just in front of me and probably checked my run just a little bit.
“But I emptied the tank and ran a PB. You can't ask for much more than running your lifetime best in the Olympic semi-final.”
“The biggest lesson I've taken out of this is that I belong on this stage. Going in at 19 years old, I had two international races prior so I was pretty raw to the scene.
“But that heat and that semi final today shows myself I can be competitive at this level. That's something I'm going to carry with me into World Juniors (Peru at the end of the month) and then into hopefully World Champs next year.
“My goal is to win World Juniors and especially after the Olympic stage, I know I'm good enough and it's just a matter of executing and running the right way.”
Peyton started his sporting career as a swimmer and won a national breaststroke title as a 10-year-old. And being from Gladstone in Queensland he then played league, and then a top junior triathlete before focusing on athletics. He still swims as part of his cross-training.
“It's been quite the journey and I think I found a bit of a niche in athletics now and I can't see myself changing anytime soon.”
Newtown-Smith and West competing well with 800m to run
Australian heptathletes Camryn Newton-Smith and Tori West continued their Paris Olympic journey with the long jump and javelin at Stade de France.
Camryn began the day in 14th position, before jumping 5.78m in the long jump and throwing the javelin 44.77m. Both solid performances for her and she is 16th with 5,220 points with one event remaining.
Tori was 21st after day one and has improved one place with the 800m to go. She jumped 5.41m in the long jump and then threw the 48.79m for a combined total of 5,038 points.
Camryn and Tori will complete their heptathlon with the 800m run at 4:15am AEST.
Connor Murphy will become the first Australian male to take part in an Olympic triple jump final since his father Andrew Murphy at Sydney 2000. The final begins at 4.10am AEST.
Australian record holder Lauren Ryan will race the 10,000m Final at 4.55am AEST August 10.
Andrew Reid
