A bitterly disappointed Torrie Lewis has come up short in her bid to create a piece of Australian sprinting history at the world athletics championships in Tokyo.
A day after breaking her own 100m national record with a flying heat time of 11.08 seconds, the 20-year-old finished fifth in her semi in 11.14.
Even though only two other Australians have ever run the distance faster, Lewis was gutted at missing the chance to become the first Australian woman to reach a world championships 100m final.
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She would need to have clocked 11.04 to grab a spot in the gold-medal race.
“Lewis has done well because she was blown away a little early and then she’s picked up and she’s got a fast-ish time here,” Bruce McAvaney said in commentary on SBS.
Injured Aussie sprinter Lachie Kennedy celebrated his teammate’s “great campaign” but Lewis’s disappointment was clear in the briefest of post-race interviews.
“Not (feeling) the best,” she told SBS.
“It was definitely the start that wasn’t the best. I felt really good, I just didn’t have it.”
Lewis then declined to speak to any other media before making a quick exit from the stadium.
The only other Australian women to have run faster than Lewis’s 100m time on Sunday were former national record holders Melissa Breen and Melinda Gainsford-Taylor.
Lewis will now have to regroup before tackling the 200m on Wednesday and 4x100m relay on Saturday.
The news was much better for Paris Olympics silver medallist Jessica Hull, who was completely untroubled in advancing to Tuesday’s 1500m final.
Hull stayed near the front throughout her semi, eventually finishing a close second in four minutes 06.87 seconds behind Nelly Chepchirchir from Kenya with plenty still in the tank.
Chepchirchir was the beneficiary when Hull ran out of gas in the shadow of the line at the recent Diamond League final in Zurich, but the Australian said that incident never crossed her mind on Sunday.
Fellow Australian Linden Hull just missed out on a spot in the final, crossing the line seventh in 4:01.65 in the much quicker first semi with only the top six advancing.
Big Reece Holder leant in to his inner “dog” to book a spot in the men’s 400m semi-finals.
Just as he did in the opening round last year at the Paris Olympics, Holder went out extremely hard in the opening 200 metres and hung tough in the final straight, finishing second in 44.54.
The time was just one hundredth of a second outside his PB with the prospect of better to come in the semis on Tuesday.
“From Paris last year to this year I’ve really learnt that majors are not like a normal race,” the 23-year-old said.
“Everyone can run 44.5 or in the 44s. It’s just who can run that three times in a row.
“The only thing you can have at the end is dog.”
American Jacory Patterson was the fastest qualifier in 43.90.
Cooper Sherman was run out in the heats, as was fellow Australian Ellie Beer in the opening round of the women’s 400m.
Beer, 22, was unable to hold back the tears before lifting her own spirits in an expansive post-race interview.
“Disappointed, that’s one word today,” she said.
“I went in with the intention of running sub-51 seconds, I’ve placed a lot of value on that number for, gosh, the last couple of years to be honest.
“I was really confident going in today and then yeah, really disappointed. It just wasn’t it today. Sorry, I shouldn’t cry.
“The 400m is a real learning curve and I do put a bit of pressure on myself to go out there and perform a perfect race.
“Yeah, I’m really, really disappointed after that run. It’s been a big season and I wanted to end it with a bit of a bang.
“But gosh getting to this moment I couldn’t be any more grateful for the people who got me here.”
Beer said it was nice to have her parents and other supporters in the crowd after running in front of empty grandstands in Tokyo at the Olympics four years ago.
Australian Yual Reath cleared 2.25m at the second attempt to book a spot in the men’s high jump final, but countrymen Brandon Starc and Roman Anastasios were eliminated.
- with 7NEWS
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