Australian distance runners Lauren Ryan and Jack Rayner have smashed the national 10,000m records at a meet in California, taking giant strides towards the Paris Olympics.
Ryan stripped a remarkable 94 seconds off her personal best, stopping the clock at 30 minutes 35.66 seconds.
Her time was more than two seconds quicker than the previous record set by the great Benita Willis way back in 2003.
Ryan, the reigning national champion, finished third in the women's 10,000m at Sound Running's The Ten, in San Juan Capistrano.
The 26-year-old became the first Australian to better the tough automatic qualifying standard of 30:40.00 for the Paris Olympics later this year.
She will now turn her attention to attaining the qualifying time for the 5000m as well.
"To be a part of the Australian Olympic team is something that I have dreamed about, and now that I know that I won the trial and have the standard, hopefully that’s guaranteeing me selection for the team in the 10K," said Ryan.
"Now it’s time to go for the 5K.
"I have had experience with it at World Juniors and I feel like for me now at that level it’s about competing and racing. It just takes a couple of years to grasp that."
Rayner finished 13th in the men's 10,000m on Saturday (Sunday AEDT) in 27:09.57, nearly six seconds better than his previous national record set at the same meet in 2022.
It was just shy of the Paris Games automatic qualifier of 27:00.00, but the 28-year-old Rayner is still well placed to be selected in a second Australian Olympic squad later this year.
A stress fracture forced him to pull out early in the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Ath Aust
