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Mitrevski leaps into Australian Olympic team

3 minute read

Chris Mitrevski has produced one of the standout performances of the Australian championships with his victory in the long jump.

Chris Mitrevski has produced the standout performance on the final day of the Australian track and field championships, winning the long jump with a leap that would have secured a medal at every Olympics since 1992.

The 27-year-old Victorian soared out to 8.32m to move past the likes of 1984 Olympic silver medallist Gary Honey and 1998 Commonwealth champ Peter Burge into sixth spot on the Australian all-time list.

That jump would have good enough to secure bronze at the Rio and Tokyo Olympics and was 1cm further than Briton Greg Rutherford's gold medal-winning effort at the 2012 London Games.

Mitrevski has represented Australia at the past two world championships without getting out of the qualifying round on either occasion.

Now the challenge is to replicate Sunday's performance on the biggest of all athletics stages in Paris in early August.

"I had a pretty good nationals two years ago where I just scratched the surface," said Mitrevski.

"That made me believe that I had a lot more in me, that I could push for a medal rather than just being a number at the Olympics.

"I've been struggling with consistency a lot and hopefully this is a step beyond that and I can go even further."

Sunday's victory was a quantum leap forward for Mitrevski as he added 11cm to his previous personal best.

"It definitely felt like a PB," he said.

"I don't know what 8.30 feels like because I've never done it before but it felt better than any jump I've never done.

"I had so much time in their air and then I landed and had to run around to the side and I saw it was pretty far."

Going past Honey on the Australian all-time list was a particular thrill for Mitrevski.

"I'm pretty close with Gary, I talk to him quite a bit," he said.

"I think he should be pretty happy that I passed him, but I'll talk to him soon."

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