‘Absolutely stoked’: Zoe Hobbs officially breaks 11-second record in Sydney

New Zealand sprinter Zoe Hobbs’ golden run has continued with a record-breaking first sub-11second 100m run to win the Sydney Track Classic.

The 25-year-old scorched home in 10.97 sec (+0.5) to obliterate the field on Saturday night, smashing not only the 12-year race record set by Sally Pearson (11.21), but also the previous fastest time on Australian soil – Ekaterini Thanou’s mark of 10.99 from the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

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 last Friday in 11.07sec to set new Oceania and New Zealand marks, then stunned the Newtown Park crowd in the final, coming home in an astonishing 10.89sec – her first time under 11 seconds.

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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.

But, still on a high from that showing, the Taranaki-raised, Auckland-based athlete, who only left for Sydney on Friday, then scalped one-tenth of a second from her Oceania record in ideal conditions, flashing across the line well clear of 18-year-old Australian Lewis Torrie (11.21) to join an exclusive worldwide sub-11 club.

“It feels so good,” Hobbs said. “I had a little bit of a shock at the end of the race, when I saw 10.99 flash up [this was later rounded down to 10.97] and I started celebrating, and then I thought, no, wait for the wind.

“When I heard the time and the wind was legal, I was absolutely stoked to finally dip under the 11-second mark legally.”

Admitting to some pre-race nerves thanks to the expectation from her superb performance last week, Hobbs tried to relax by watching Drive to Survive on Netflix, and was unsuccessful in taking an afternoon nap.

“I was in overdrive,” she said. “I was quite alert today. I felt I was still recovering a bit from the emotional high of nationals. I woke up on Monday not feeling that great, but thankfully I was able to execute today.

“I managed to get a good start and considering the pressure I felt, I’m stoked with the performance.”

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, Hobbs is now the 2023 world leader, and big dreams are starting to become a reality.

“To give it some context, I’m sure that time would have been quick enough to have made the Olympic women’s 100m final in Tokyo [it would have advanced her to the final as sixth-fastest].

“There wasn’t much wind out there tonight, which is similar to what you get in big stadium. When you reframe it in that context, it is pretty wild, and to do it in my third race of the season is crazy.”

Hobbs, who later anchored a New Zealand A team – also including Brooke Somerfield, Portia Bing and Anna Percy – to second in the women’s 4x100m, clocking 44.59 behind Australia A’s 43.25, 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, finishing second in the men’s 100m final in 10.16sec (-0.2) to fan favourite Rohan Browning, who scorched home in 10.14.

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.”