Aged just 21, Reece Holder produced another strong performance in his 400m semi-final against some of the biggest names in the sport. He placed fifth in a time of 44.94 seconds and it took 44.41 to make the Olympic final. He ran a personal best of 44.52 in his heat and finishes his first Olympics ranked 14th in the world.

Going out hard and without fear, Reece was equal third into the home straight but didn’t have the endurance strength to match it with the world’s elite. 

“It was unreal to be back running another sub 45. So all happy there,” Reece said.

Brisbane-based Reece was second at the World University Games last year when he burst onto the scene.

“I've always just enjoyed track throughout school and just sort of stuck to it and got sort of my first coach, which is still my coach now in grade ten, and just sort of further excelled. And I'm here now.”

Only Australian record holder Darren Clark, who finished fourth at LA 1984 and Seoul 1988, has run faster at the Olympic Games.

“I haven't really been chasing history or anything. I've just been out there to put my foot on the track and that's what I'm doing.”

At her first major championship, Alanah Yukich ran well from the inside lane in the 400m Hurdles. She attacked the race, passing the athlete inside her coming into the home straight and passed another at the line to finish seventh in a time of 55.49.

The performance closes a solid debut Olympic campaign for Alanah. She ran 55.46 in her heat, which saw her miss an automatic advance to the next round. She then ran a personal best of 55.11 to reach the semi-final and then backed it up again with 55.49.

“This whole journey, just getting here and being able to put on the uniform is an absolute honour,” Alanah said. 

“I still can't believe everything that’s happened. I think yesterday was just an absolute honour to really experience what the Olympics is designed for, is to bring countries in unity and I was able to experience that firsthand with an absolute dead heat. To come here and run is just an absolute honour.

“I'm 26 now and I'm. I'm still learning how to run the race. So I am actually a lot faster than my hurdle strides.

I've been chopping and chopping so much in that race, so there's just so many positives coming out of this experience. I’ll go back to my base in America and plan my goals for next year and really put down some base and then, obviously, technical wise, hurdles.

“Next year, my goals are world relays. I absolutely love relays, and then world champs.”

Andrew Reid