highschoolcoach
Guru
TEEN sprint queen Lauren O'Sullivan is a hair's-breadth off becoming Australia's fastest 200m runner.
The Brisbane schoolgirl, 15, - who shocked the athletics world in October when she declared she would not even consider an Olympic spot because of her age - smashed a 23-year-old national under-16 200m record in Sydney at the weekend.
Her time of 23.54sec in the heats of the Australian All Schools and Youth Athletics Championships was a whopping 0.49sec faster than the record set by Sue Broderick in 1982, and just 0.01sec slower than the nation's fastest ranked 200m runner of the year Crystal Attenborough.
O'Sullivan, who went on to win both the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay events at the Sydney meet, said stars Jana Rawlinson (Pittman) and Sally McLellan had urged her to rethink her Olympic stance.
"I've spoken to both Sally McLellan and Jana Pittman and they both said they went to the Olympics when they were 16 - and I'll be 16 next year," she said.
"I still find it a bit young, but if they've gone through it and they're still there and they're still going strong I guess it's not too bad."
O'Sullivan said she now had her sights firmly set on snagging a spot in the Beijing relay team.
"I'd like to start off with the 4x100m relay to get used to the whole atmosphere," she said.
Although O'Sullivan's weekend 100m times were off her normal pace - a storm had left the track waterlogged and slow - her Queensland under-16 record of 11.67 also placed the sprinter in Beijing contention.
The humble teen was about 10m ahead of her nearest competitor in her record-breaking 200m run and said it was the fear of someone sneaking up behind her that kept her powering ahead.
"Other than that I just focus on my own race, focus on what I'm doing and make sure my running style's right."
Athletics Australia high-performance manager Max Binnington admitted the sprinter's time put her in contention for the Australian team but said any talk of an Olympic spot would put unfair pressure on the teen.
As always, I wonder why no American Caucasian girls run these kind of times.
The Brisbane schoolgirl, 15, - who shocked the athletics world in October when she declared she would not even consider an Olympic spot because of her age - smashed a 23-year-old national under-16 200m record in Sydney at the weekend.
Her time of 23.54sec in the heats of the Australian All Schools and Youth Athletics Championships was a whopping 0.49sec faster than the record set by Sue Broderick in 1982, and just 0.01sec slower than the nation's fastest ranked 200m runner of the year Crystal Attenborough.
O'Sullivan, who went on to win both the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay events at the Sydney meet, said stars Jana Rawlinson (Pittman) and Sally McLellan had urged her to rethink her Olympic stance.
"I've spoken to both Sally McLellan and Jana Pittman and they both said they went to the Olympics when they were 16 - and I'll be 16 next year," she said.
"I still find it a bit young, but if they've gone through it and they're still there and they're still going strong I guess it's not too bad."
O'Sullivan said she now had her sights firmly set on snagging a spot in the Beijing relay team.
"I'd like to start off with the 4x100m relay to get used to the whole atmosphere," she said.
Although O'Sullivan's weekend 100m times were off her normal pace - a storm had left the track waterlogged and slow - her Queensland under-16 record of 11.67 also placed the sprinter in Beijing contention.
The humble teen was about 10m ahead of her nearest competitor in her record-breaking 200m run and said it was the fear of someone sneaking up behind her that kept her powering ahead.
"Other than that I just focus on my own race, focus on what I'm doing and make sure my running style's right."
Athletics Australia high-performance manager Max Binnington admitted the sprinter's time put her in contention for the Australian team but said any talk of an Olympic spot would put unfair pressure on the teen.
As always, I wonder why no American Caucasian girls run these kind of times.
