Jack Hale has his sights set on qualifying for the world championships after posting a personal best and easily winning the men's 100 metres final at Saturday's Perth Track Classic.
The Tasmanian clocked 10.20 seconds in a 1.6m tailwind to shade his previous best time by 0.01sec achieved in Germany in 2016 - a month after his 18th birthday.
His personal milestone looked unlikely after he started slowly and trailed rising star Jake Doran.
Hale, however, found his stride and powered past 18-year-old Doran, who finished second with 10.34 and third-placed Alex Hartmann in 10.44.
"I came here for a (personal best) time and that's what I got," he said.
"It wasn't the cleanest of races. Doran had a big jump on me but I was happy I pulled him back."
In an ominous message to rivals, the 20-year-old said he can improve upon an unbeaten start to 2019 where a current 11-race winning streak has made him a national sprint sensation.
"My top-end (speed)... that's as good as it's going to get for the next 12 months," he said.
"But my starts can be cleaned up. If I can get the strength in the right places then I think I can gain another metre."
Hale said his confidence had grown after joining forces with coach Adam Larcom about 18 months ago.
"We've done so much work and it's starting to show," he said.
"Last year was just about rolling into it and now it's about running fast."
Even though he had a memorable performance, Hale fell short of making the 10.10 qualifying time for the world championships in Qatar later this year.
He said a fierce desire to seal a berth to Doha would motivate him at next week's Queensland's Track Classic and the Australian Athletics Championships starting on April 1 in Sydney.
"I just want the 10.10 qualifying time. That's my goal," Hale said.
"I have to back myself. I have done a lot of work and it's paying off. I just go into every race believing that I can win."
Earlier in the program, Queensland's Naa Anang secured a berth in the World Championships with a personal best of 6.73m to narrowly claim the long jump over rival Brooke Stratton.
The 24-year-old was in rare form with her first jump of 6.70m beating her previous best mark by two centimetres.
"I was really hoping to get that world qualifier before the nationals...happy to get that here," she said.
Even though she finished second, Stratton secured her spot in Doha with a jump of 6.72m - the mark needed for qualification.
