Ryan Gregson has achieved a top-10 finish in the men’s 1500m final while Australia’s 4x400m women’s relay team finished eighth on the last night of competition at the Olympic Stadium.
The first Australian in 40 years to reach the men’s 1500m Olympic final, Gregson finished ninth in a time of 3:51.39.
It was a result that sparked mixed emotions for Gregson, who ran strongly but lost his position approaching the bell, which he concedes cost him an even better result.
In a highly tactical race, the Australian was well placed early but once he was shuffled back the slow speed up front made catching the leaders virtually impossible.
“I think something faster would have maybe suited me a bit more,” Gregson said.
“But that’s just the 1500, you’ve got to have every trick in your arsenal to be able to compete because who knows, it could be won at 3:30, it could be won at 3:50.”
In the men’s 5000m final, Brett Robinson finished 15th as Great Britain’s champion Mo Farah claimed the 5000m-10,000m double.
It was a great performance by Robinson to make the final and the Aussie gave it everything he had, running 13:32.
In one of the final events of the program, our women’s 4x400m team of Jessica Thornton, Anneliese Rubie, Caitlin Sargent and Morgan Mitchell ran superb races to finish with a time of 3:27.45.
The USA won gold ahead of Jamaica and Great Britain.
