Watch FIFA World Cup 2026™

LIVE, FREE and EXCLUSIVE

Aussie nabs Olympic marathon qualifier

A second-place finish has come with the added bonus of an Olympic qualifying time for Australia's Milly Clark at the Gold Coast marathon.

Milly Clark after finishing the marathon at the Rio Olympics.
Milly Clark says a new PB and an Olympic qualifier made the Gold Marathon the perfect race. (AAP)

A strong finish has secured Australia's Milly Clark second place and an Olympic qualifying time at the Gold Coast marathon.

Tasmania's Clark came home in two hours, 28 minutes and eight seconds in Sunday's race to post a new personal best and go well under the Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualifying mark of 2:29:30.

Her blistering finish almost ended with her running down Rodah Jepkorir but the Kenyan hung on to win in 2:27:56 with Eritrea's Nazret Weldu third in 2:28:57.

Despite narrowly missing out on the win, Clark ticked all the boxes she had set herself and was thrilled with the result.

"I had a lot of fun," she said.

News that makes sense

Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

"There wasn't a moment that I wasn't loving it.

"Honestly it was perfect. Everything went exactly the way I wanted it to go. I just wanted to hopefully run a PB and finish in the top three and I did both so I'm super stoked."

In the men's race, Japan's Yuta Shitara set a new race record of 2:07:50 to become the eighth Japanese winner in the 41-year history of the event.

Shitara came home ahead of Kenyan Barnabus Kiptum and New Zealand's Zane Robertson.

Hong Kong marathon winner Kiptum set a personal best of 2:08:02 while Robertson capped off his marathon debut with a 2:08:19 to secure a New Zealand record.

There was agony for best-placed Australian Liam Adams who finished sixth in 2:11:36.

The result will be bittersweet for the Victorian with his new PB just six seconds outside the Olympic qualifying mark.


2 min read

Published

Source: AAP



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News straight to your inbox

Sign up now for daily news from Australia and around the world. You can also subscribe to Insight's weekly newsletter for in-depth features and first-person stories.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Follow SBS News

Download our apps

Listen to our podcasts

Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service

Stream now

Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world