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Alisha Lovrich/Athletics NZ
Zoe Hobbs has broken the New Zealand and Oceania 100m women’s sprint records for the second time in eight days.
New Zealand sprinter Zoe Hobbs’ golden run has continued with a record-breaking first sub-11sec 100m run to win the Sydney Track Classic.
The 25-year-old smashed the 12-year race record set by Sally Pearson when she scorched home in 10.97 sec (+0.5) to obliterate the field on Saturday night.
It was the second time in a week that Hobbs had hammered out new national records.
She won her heat at the national championships in Wellington eight days ago in 11.07sec to set new Oceania and New Zealand marks.
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Then she stunned the Newtown Park crowd in the final, coming home in an astonishing 10.89sec – her first time under 11 seconds.
However, due to the strong 3.4-metre-per-second tailwind in the capital, that time could not be counted as a new national record.
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After a blistering start to her season, Kiwi sprint ace has already booked herself a spot at the world champs.
Hobbs, Taranaki-raised but Auckland-based, only left for Sydney on Friday.
Still on a high from Wellington, she scalped one-tenth of a second from her Oceania record in ideal conditions to join an exclusive worldwide sub-11 second club.
Her performance at Sydney Olympic Park confirmed she is in the form of her life after a standout 2022 season which saw her reach the semifinals in the 60m at the world indoors, make the same stage at the world outdoors over 100m and become a finalist at the Commonwealth Games.
Pearson, a former Olympic and world champion 100m hurdler, set her Sydney Traffic Classic flat race record of 11.21sec set in 2011.
Hobbs blew that it into the weeds, finishing well clear of 18-year-old Australian Lewis Torrie (11.21sec) and Bree Masters (11.38sec).
The New Zealand sprint star will now head home to compete at the Sir Graeme Douglas International meet at Trusts Arena in West Auckland on Thursday.
Eddie Osei-Nketia couldn’t make it a Kiwi double in Sydney, losing the men’s 100m final to fan favourite Rohan Browning, who scorched home in 10.14 (-0.2) sec.
McTaggart smashes PB
Meanwhile, pole vaulter Olivia McTaggart a world-class performance on Saturday to win the Auckland Championships with a 6cm PB and World Championship entry standard mark of 4.71m at AUT Millennium.
In yet another competition which demonstrated the strength in depth of New Zealand pole vaulting, former Olympic bronze medallist Eliza McCartney picked up silver by matching her season’s best of 4.61m and Imogen Ayris, the Commonwealth bronze medallist, added 1cm to her PB to clear 4.51m and claim third.
The Auckland victory avenged McTaggart’s countback defeat to McCartney at the national championships after both cleared 4.61m.
The 23-year-old opened in Auckland at 4.41m, then successfully negotiated 4.51m and 6.1m before clering 4.71m at her third attempt to post the best outdoor performance in the world in 2023, one that would have ranked her fourth at the 2022 world championships.
McTaggart bettered her PB of 4.65m set when winning the 2022 national title in Hastings.
“I’m ecstatic,” she said.
“I’m still in shock a little bit. I didn’t think today would be the day I would get 4.71m but everything came together and I really worked for it. I put so much technical strategy into the competition, I enjoyed it so much. I’m so happy.”
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