Day Seven: Gregson headlines London distance day

National record holder Ryan Gregson (Vic) will start his heat of the 1500m at the London world championships with confidence a year after running in an Olympic final.

The 27-year-old features on the seventh day of competition at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park where nine Australian distance runners will strut their stuff in the English capital.

A recent personal best set over 3000m at the Rabat Diamond League meeting is a good sign of fitness for Gregson who has a season’s best of 3:34.37 set in Stockholm two months ago.

Last year he was the first Australian man to qualify for an Olympic 1500m final in 40 years at the Rio Games where he placed ninth.

Competing at his fourth world championships with his best result coming in 2011 in Daegu with a semi-final appearance he will be eager to progress to the weekend.

Joining Gregson will be 800m national champion Luke Mathews (Vic) who extends his distance to the 1500m, after competing in the middle distance double at the Olympic Games in Rio last year.

Making his senior national debut on the track is Jordan Williamsz (Vic), who will run in the first heat of the 1500m that features reigning Olympic champion Matthew Centrowitz from the United States.

Passion is everything. 🖤 #motivationmonday

A post shared by Heidi See (@heidisee_) on Jul 23, 2017 at 11:49pm PDT

The first event including Australians in the session will be the women’s 5000m where Eloise Wellings (NSW) and Madeline Hills (NSW) will be focused on progressing out of the heats after they both featured in the Olympic final at the Rio Games last year.

The pair recently clocked season’s bests of 15:14.54 and 15:12.63 respectively at a meeting in Belgium before entering the pre-championships training camp.

Also featuring in the women’s 5000m heats is reigning three-time Australian 1500m champion Heidi See (NSW) who has widened her range on the track this season.

National champion Lora Storey (NSW) makes her first senior appearance for Australia at a global championships in the heats of the 800m, one of the most competitive events in London.

A total of 29 women have run under the two-minute barrier this season, three of those breaking 1:56 including reigning Olympic champion Caster Semenya (RSA) who took bronze in the 1500m a few days ago.

Rising youngster Georgia Griffith (Vic) makes her second appearance at the championships at just 20 years of age following her run in the 1500m heats.

Three-time national champion Brittany McGowan (Qld) also represents Australia over two laps after finding form recently on the European circuit following an injury lay off.

Camp closed 🚫London bound ✈️🇬🇧#MTC

A post shared by Brittany McGowan (@brittsheruns) on Aug 5, 2017 at 1:14am PDT

In the field, three-time national javelin champion Hamish Peacock (Tas) will throw at his third world championships aiming to make his first final.

The Tasmanian who won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games has a personal best of 84.39 metres and will be looking to become the most successful Australian male javelin thrower at a world championships. 

National record holder Jarrod Bannister has that current mark with his throw of 82.25m for seventh at the 2011 championships in Daegu.

High jumper Nicola McDermott (NSW) will compete in qualifying with a season’s best of 1.85 metres that was set in Canberra. 

The 20-year-old will be one to watch after placing fourth at the 2015 World University Games and also competing at the world junior championships in 2014.