ATHLETICS: Australia has gone from Olympic sprinting famine to feast in less than 24 hours, with rising 100m star Josh Clarke and 200m duo Alex Hartmann and Ella Nelson all bettering the qualifying standards for the Rio Games.
Clarke, 20, started the ball rolling on Saturday night at the ACT championships, moving to fifth on the national 100m all-time list with a flying personal best of 10.15.
Among Australians, only record holder Patrick Johnson, Matt Shirvington, Josh Ross and Damien Marsh have gone faster over the 100m.
"This is just a fantastic step for Josh and also the sport," said Australian head coach Craig Hilliard, after Clarke bettered the qualifying mark by one hundredth of a second.
"He ran really well last season and posted some good times so you could see the latent talent was there.
"I was really impressed with his two runs, running 10.21 in the heats and then backing it up with 10.15.
"If he can continue producing runs of that ilk throughout the season, that really sets a benchmark and will help pull the other sprinters through.
"It just gives some real impetus to the event."
The news became even better in Canberra on Sunday, with Hartmann (20.45) and Nelson (22.84) both smashing their personal bests in the half-lap events, bettering the Olympic qualifiers in the process.
Not since the 2004 Athens Games, when Ross tackled the 100m, Adam Miller ran the men's 200m and Lauren Hewitt reached the quarter-finals of the women's 200m, has Australia had an interest in the Olympic individual men's sprints or the women's half-lap race.
"The best thing of all is that they're all doing it early in the season and there's room for improvement," said Hilliard.
"The vibe and the groundswell in Canberra this weekend has been amazing."
Nelson was run out in the 200m heats at last year's world titles in Beijing, while Hartmann was a member of the 4x100m relay squad at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
"Alex is a big strong guy and a bit of an enigma," said Hilliard.
"He just gets out there and runs."
The fourth standout performance in Canberra came from Brooke Stratton, who bettered her PB and the Olympic qualifying mark with 6.79m in the women's long jump.
Morgan Mitchell also backed up her 400m PB of 52.04 set last weekend in Newcastle with another Rio Games qualifier of 52.19.
