Genevieve LaCaze has stormed into the final of the women’s 5000m in Rio.
Thirteen personal bests and counting for Genevieve LaCaze, running 15:20.45 to qualify for yet another Olympic final.
Backing up after a gruelling 3000m steeplechase final yesterday, LaCaze finished right behind teammate Elosie Wellings in seventh position.
"My coach [Nic Bideau] said before this race.. you can get two things out of this; qualify for another final but you can PB again… qualifying is more important but at this level those two things come hand in hand".
Long jump
Young-gun Brooke Stratton has advanced to the Olympic long-jump final after jumping 6.56m to place 9th in qualifying.
1500m Heats
Ryan Gregson has opened his Olympic campaign by automatically qualifying for the 1500m semi-final.
Boxed in for much of the race he set off late to qualify easily for the semi-finals (Thursday night Rio time), finishing second in his heat in a time of 3:39.13.
A confident Gregson backed his instincts "I just wanted to be patient early, my best way is to be patient and come home at the end. I did that, now I have to recover and do it again in two days time".
Australian middle distance running is thriving, Gregson is pleased to be apart of the journey, "Yeah it is, she [Genevieve LaCaze] is a star, it's so good we get to do this together, you know it’s a lonely sport but to be able to do this with your best mate its fantastic and I think we both rub off on each other as well".
Struck down with a multitude of injuries throughout his career hampering progression since setting the Australian record in 2010, "I've been through a lot of set backs in the last five years, I don’t really talk about it so no one knows it's been going on, I just put my head down and now I have another opportunity". T
hose unfamiliar with Gregson's tactics would have been on the edge of their seats with 200m remaining, it was a fast finish that ensured a semi-final berth, "It was good, I've still got a bit more in the tank".
Javelin
Kathryn Mitchell is into her second Olympic final, qualifying in the women's Javelin with a mark of 61.63m. Mitchell will look to improve on her ninth placing at London 2012.
