Commonwealth Games finalist, Georgia Griffith, has won the 800m in emphatic style at the Stumptown Twilight Meet, recording a new personal best of 2:00.13.
Griffith’s performance is the fastest time by an Australian in ten years which moves her up the Australian rankings to 7th fastest all-time, with the six athletes before her breaking the celebrated two minute mark.
A week earlier, Griffith ran a race which proved she had the fitness to push the pace from the gun. This confidence booster was vital in rearranging her race plan which lead to the impressive time.
“Knowing that I was able to negative split my last race in 2:01 definitely gave me confidence going in on Friday to try and stick with the pace and hopefully chase down a PB. I was really focused on sticking with the pacer for the first lap as I wanted to make sure I gave myself every opportunity to run quick,” said Griffith.
It is a goal of Griffith’s to one day break the 2-minute mark and rival the 30-year-old Australian record set by Charlene Rendina at 1:59.0.
“My next goal is definitely to try and run under 2 minutes, which (excitingly) seems a little closer now!” said a motivated Griffith.
The 21-year-old has recently spent three weeks training at high-altitude in Flagstaff, Arizona joining fellow VIS middle-distance runners Linden Hall, Peter Bol and Jaryd Clifford. Griffith believes the training camp has been a vital step in her progression this season.
“I think I would put my recent form down to the solid block of training I managed to get done in Flagstaff, Arizona in the 3 weeks prior to racing. I find these periods up at altitude as well as being in an environment surrounded by other athletes something that works really well for me.”
In other athletics news, the dynamic duo of Peter Bol and Joseph Deng have continued their impressive European campaign with yet another 1-2 finish in the 800m. At the Soundtrack Tubingen meet in Germany, Bol took line honours in 1:45.41 with Deng hot on his tail in a time of 1:45.71.
In Bern, Switzerland, Ryan Gregson broke away from the field in the final 200m to win the men’s 1500m convincingly in a time of 3:37.68, with Jordy Williamsz second in 3:40.33.
Photo credit: Ewa Facioni
