Australian Brooke Stratton has exceeded her own expectations after an injury-interrupted year by finishing sixth in the women's long jump at the world athletics championships.
The consistent Stratton had two jumps of 6.67m on Friday - and another three of 6.54m or better - as she claimed the highest finish by an Australian woman in the event at a world titles.
American Brittney Reese pocketed the gold with 7.02m, two centimetres further than the silver-medal effort by Darya Klishina, a Russian competing as a neutral athlete in London.
Stratton, 24, has battled serious foot and groin injuries this year and had pretty much given up hope of even making it to London for the world titles.
"I knew I wasn't in fantastic shape given my preparation but to place sixth, I can't believe it," she said.
" ... I would have loved to have jumped further, I don't think I had any further in me, I gave it my best tonight
I'm sure bigger jumps will come. I just need a consistent block of training under my belt and I should get back to jumping over seven metres pretty soon."
Stratton exceeded the seventh-placed finishes by fellow Australian jumpers Nicole Boegman in 1993 and Bronwyn Thompson in 2003.
"It was definitely worth coming over here," said Stratton.
"We took a bit of a risk but it definitely paid off."
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