For 45 years after Ralph Doubell’s 1:44.40 Olympic win in Mexico City, breaking 1:45 remained one of the rarest feats in Australian middle-distance running.
All photos by Jeff Wray unless otherwise noted.
Only three men managed it.
This season alone, four have already done it.
Eighteen-year-old Daniel Williams became the latest at the Adelaide Invitational, producing the standout performance of the night with a 1:44.37 personal best. He edged former national champion Luke Boyes, who also set a lifetime best of 1:44.38.
“I can’t believe it, I actually can’t believe it,” Williams said.
“Coming into this I had a massive disappointment in Perth a month ago. I ran about 1:52. To come back and run 1:44 today is just unbelievable. It’s insane, I’m stoked.”
Williams lowered his previous personal best, set at last year’s Sydney Track Classic, by more than a second. He now moves to No. 6 on the Australian all-time list, and becomes the second-fastest Australian junior in history, behind Peyton Craig’s 1:44.11.
Australia now has four athletes under the Commonwealth Games qualifying standard: Peter Bol and Bob Abdelrahim (who will contest next week’s World Indoor Championships), Williams and Boyes. Victory by any of them at next month’s Australian Championships would guarantee automatic selection for Glasgow. Further, Peyton Craig is yet to open his season over two laps, having so far only winning a tactical 1500m at the Hobart Track Classic.
# Time Athlete Venue, Year 1 1:42.55 Peter Bol Monaco, 2025 2 1:43.99 Joseph Deng Decines, 2023 3 1:44.07 Peyton Craig Perth, 2025 4 1:44.27 Bob Abdelrahim Lakeside, 2026 5 1:44.35 Charlie Hunter Vida, 2021 6 1:44.37 Daniel Williams Adelaide, 2026 7 1:44.38 Luke Boyes Adelaide, 2026 =8 1:44.40 Ralph Doubell Mexico, 1968 =8 1:44.40 Alex Rowe Monaco, 2014 10 1:44.48 Jeff Riseley Lignano, 2012
Hometown favourite Aidan Murphy was just outside both his 20.41 personal best and the track record, taking the 200m in 20.43 into a 1.3 m/s headwind. He defeated Reece Holder (20.63), while visiting American Jacory Patterson finished fourth in 20.83.
“I’m pumped with that. To race like that and get the win in front of a home crowd is amazing,” Murphy said.
“I’m just running fast right now. I’m really enjoying it and that’s the main thing — and it’s paying off.”
Murphy’s time was one-hundredth of a second faster than Cooper Sherman ran last week in Geelong, raising the tantalising possibility that they, along with Holder, could clash later this month at Melbourne’s Continental Gold meet and again at the national championships next month in Sydney.
Luke Van Ratingen added his name to the mix in the 400m, taking victory in a personal best of 45.21.
In the women’s 400m, Jemma Pollard continued her undefeated season with a 52.22 victory over Ellie Beer (52.51), while 400m hurdler Sarah Carli lowered her personal best to 52.58 for third.
Matthew Hunt also produced a breakthrough performance in the 400m hurdles, running 49.48 to move into the top ten Australians of all time. Meanwhile, 2021 Olympic decathlon bronze medallist Ashley Moloney lowered his personal best to 51.61 in 7th.
Consistent performer Abbey Caldwell just missed the two-minute barrier in the women’s 800m, winning in 2:00.04, while Matthew Denny claimed the discus with 67.99m.
In the long jump, Brooke Buschkuehl secured victory by just two centimetres, leaping 6.48m in the third round to surpass Delta Amidzovski’s opening round mark.
Nineteen-year-old Milla Roberts produced one of the night’s most dramatic improvements, storming home in the 1500m to win in 4:12.81, slashing 14 seconds from her personal best and moving to No. 7 on the Australian U20 all-time list.
In the men’s race, Japan’s Tomonori Yamaguchi finished strongly over the final lap to defeat Jackson Sharp, 3:40.13 to 3:40.22.
Joshua Azzopardi (10.27, +0.3) claimed the men’s 100m line honours, while Chloe Mannix-Power (11.45, −0.3) took out the women’s race for her first national-level victory since last year’s suspension.
Japan’s Yutaro Niinae won the steeplechase in 8:33.77 ahead of Ben Buckingham (8:36.67).
Elsewhere, Ruby Smee ran a personal best 15:52.28 to win the 5000m, Jack Downey cleared 5.45m to win the pole vault, and Japan’s Nanaka Kori took the women’s discus with 56.46m. Shemiah James won the triple jump with 16.39m and Yual Reath leapt 2.18m in the high jump.
The night before the meet also produced strong performances, with Australia’s men’s 4x100m team of Lachlan Kennedy, Joshua Azzopardi, Christopher Ius and Jacob Despard running 38.34:the 12th fastest time ever by an Australian quartet.
The women’s team of Ebony Lane, Monique Hanlon, Olivia Inkster and Chloe Mannix-Power clocked 43.37, while Desleigh Owusu jumped 13.43m in the triple jump and Cara Feain-Ryan ran a season-leading 9:34.89 in the steeplechase.
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