Teen sprint star Jack Hale might have been the fourth-fastest Australian man over 100m in history but for a blunder by West Australian athletics officials.
Hale ran a great time in his 100m sprint preliminary at the WA state championships on Friday night, only to find the all-important photo finish timing equipment had not worked and the wind gauge had not started.
According to the 19-year-old's camp, hand-held timing indicated he had clocked about the equivalent of 10.10 seconds, which would have been easily his personal best and the fastest time by an Australian since Joshua Ross ran 10.08 in 2007.
It would also have elevated him to fourth on the all-time list behind Patrick Johnson (9.93 in 2003), Matt Shirvington (10.03 in 1998) and Ross.
Hale ran 10.10 last weekend at the Perth Track Classic but an illegal tailwind of 2.1 meant the time could not count as an official Commonwealth Games A qualifier of 10.15 or under.
Reports from the Perth track on Friday indicated wind was unlikely to have been an issue here, with the gauge measuring a tailwind of 0.3 in Hale's final, which he ran in 10.23 - the fastest in the world this year and his second-fastest legal time.
Hale's previous fastest time was 10.13, but that was also achieved with an illegal tailwind.
His official PB is 10.21, achieved in 2016 in Germany.
It's understood Hale's coach Adam Larcom is furious about the mistake, which his manager Richard Welsh said was not good enough.
"It's disappointing Jack has gone all the way to Perth in great conditions, he's in fantastic shape, and he's put a performance down that wasn't able to be measured," Welsh told AAP.
"That's disappointing for Jack.
"His coach went all the way over from Melbourne to support him in the performance.
"To his credit, Jack dealt with it very well.
"He jumped straight on a plane and came back to get ready for his next race in Canberra next weekend."
Athletics WA has been contacted for comment.
It leaves Hale with everything to race for at next weekend's ACT championships in Canberra, a famously fast course set to attract a stacked field.
Meanwhile in Perth on Saturday night, pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall cleared 5.80m to better last week's PB of 5.78 and bump him up to fifth in the Australian all-time list.
At the Hunter Track Classic, Rio Olympian Linden Hall won the women's 5000m in a Commonwealth Games A qualifying time of 15 minutes and 18.77 seconds.
Paige Campbell took out the women's 3000m steeplechase in 9:49.60, making her the sixth-fastest on the Australian woman of all time and giving her a Commonwealth Games B qualifier, seven seconds short of the A mark.
