Tristan Thomas Flies at Zatopek
11 Dec 2008
AIS/TIS scholarship holder Tristan Thomas demolished the 800m field at the 2008 Zatopek Classic in Melbourne.
The national 400m Hurdles champion was one of the stand out performers of the night, clocking 1:47.83 to win by a second and a half from Queenslander Matt Fox and Fraser Coss.
The pacemaker was requested to go through in 51. sec, however it ended up being 53sec, before Thomas opened to run away from the field. Thomas is now the fastest 800m runner from Tasmania since Brendan Hanigan (also pictured).
It was the first 800m race he had run since 2006.
In the men's 1500m, Grant Page placed 5th in a time quicker than any he ran last season. The 26 year old was pleased with his result, given his recent niggle in the achilles.
Beijing Olympian Jeff Riseley won the race, in the first sub 3:40 clocking at Zatopek in a long time. His blistering change of pace, brought out a 55sec final lap, to stop the clock at 3:39.77.
It was a hot night of racing, with the first three athletes over the line in the prestigious men's 10,000m national title all recording World Championship B qualifiers. The national title went to David McNeil of Victoria in 28:03.02.