Teen sensation Lewis stuns world champion in Diamond League debut

Australia’s fastest woman Torrie Lewis has left an indelible mark on the global athletics scene, storming to victory in the Diamond League season opener in Xiamen, China as Georgia Griffith and Sarah Billings become the fourth and fifth Australian women to clock sub-four minute times in the 1500m.

After a record-breaking season, Lewis (Andrew Iselin) lost no momentum when flying to China, orchestrating a stunning upset to win the Women’s 200m on her Diamond League individual race debut.

Clinching victory from Lane 9, the 19-year-old overtook global sprinting royalty in 100m world champion and her idol, Sha’Carri Richardson (USA) and Tamara Clark (USA) in the final moments of the race for a photo finish, putting the athletics world on notice.

Clocking 22.96 (-0.4), ahead of Richardson’s season opener of 22.99, Lewis ran the second fastest 200m of her career, edging closer to breaking Raelene Boyle’s 56-year old Australian Under 20 record as well as the Olympic qualifying standard of 22.57.

“It was so surreal beating Sha’Carri. I didn’t even notice I beat them until I saw the replay and I was like, ‘Holy Crap!’ So surreal!” Lewis said after her race.

“My goal was to just hold on as long as I could. I was in Lane 9 so I knew they would all be in front of me by 50 or 60m, but I just wanted to do as well as I could.

“I just did Nationals on Sunday and came here straight from that. I know that this was their (competitors) season opener so I knew I had an edge coming in but I just wasn’t entirely sure because I had never raced those athletes before.”

Australia’s middle-distance resurgence rolled on as Georgia Griffith (Nic Bideau) and Sarah Billings (Nic Bideau) became the fourth and fifth Australian women in history to shatter the four-minute barrier over 1500m, while Linden Hall (Ned Brophy-Williams) joined the party to pile on another Olympic qualifying performance.

Griffith broke through the elusive barrier after threatening for years, delivering a statement run of 3:59.04 to claim sixth place, closely followed by teammate Billings who nailed a seven second personal best for 3:59.59 and ninth place, as Hall clocked 4:00.71 for 10th - all inside the 4:02.50 Olympic qualifying standard.

The Men’s 5000m saw Olympic finalist Stewart McSweyn (Nic Bideau) fall agonisingly short of the 13:05.00 qualifying standard for Paris 2024, as the Australian raced to 10th place in a time of 13:05.18 to kick-start his international campaign.

Racing in typically aggressive fashion, McSweyn featured prominently at the front of the field when keeping the likes of Lamecha Girma (ETH) and Nicholas Kipkorir (KEN) company, while fellow Australians Jack Rayer (Nic Bideau) and Matthew Ramsden (Nic Bideau) clocked times of 13:18.74 and 13:26.60 respectively.

Joel Baden (Sandro Bisetto) cleared 2.24m in the Men’s High Jump, but a miss at 2.20m left the Australian just shy of the podium, defeated on countback by Kiwi rival and World Indoor Champion Hamish Kerr. Global medallist Shelby McEwan (USA) and Olympic champion Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT) took first and second place respectively, clearing 2.27m.

Making her debut on the Diamond League stage, 400m specialist Ellie Beer (Brett Robinson) held strong to cross the line in 52.36 to place fifth from Lane 9, while Peter Bol (Justin Rinaldi) added to the action on the track with his first overseas appearance since the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, stopping the clock in 1:47.02 for 11th place in the Men’s 800m.

Also earning her first Diamond League appearance, Cara Feain-Ryan (Ben Norton) raced to the second fastest time of her career with a run of 9:32.08 for ninth place in the Women’s 3000m steeplechase.

Australian record holder Kathryn Mitchell (Uwe Hohn) opened her international campaign in the pre-program with a 55.57m throw for sixth place in the Women’s Javelin as she builds towards a fourth Olympic Games, with China’s Qianqian Dai (CHN) the only athlete in the world-class field to surpass the 60m barrier.

The Diamond League is the world’s premier athletics series, with the next edition taking place in Shanghai and Suzhou in China next Saturday, 27 April.

By Sascha Ryner and Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted 20 April, 2024