Lauren Wells is in prime position for a ninth Australian 400m hurdles title and automatic Olympic qualification after delivering a season-best performance at the Sydney Track Classic.
Wells clocked a fourth Olympic-standard qualifying time of 56.07 in her pet event on Saturday night, although she faced a nervous wait to have the result reinstated after initially being disqualified for trailing one leg around one of the hurdles.
Even if the jury had not overturned the track referee's decision, a disqualification would have done nothing to hurt the consistent 27-year-old's Olympic chances.
She now has her sights set on securing her spot on the Rio team at the national championships in Sydney in a fortnight.
"Title No. 9 is in my sights," Wells said.
"I want to win nationals and automatically qualify for Rio and get my name on the ticket."
Breakthrough sprint talent Ella Nelson bettered the Olympic qualifying standard for a third consecutive time with a 23.12 win in the 200m, though it was slower than last month's eye-catching personal best of 22.53.
No Australian hopefuls yet to post a qualifying time managed to get it done at Sydney Olympic Park, with national 1500m record-holder Ryan Gregson the most notable to fall short, despite his 3:39.69 beating rising star Luke Mathews (3:40.55).
Mathews, 20, posted a qualifying time for the 800m in Melbourne two weeks ago and is aiming for the 800m-1500m double in Rio.
"Luke is the hot guy right now, so I've got to hold him out," Gregson said.
"Obviously it was slow, but I just want to win every race I'm in and I've been doing that lately.
"It will be 10 seconds slower at nationals.
"That was the only chance to run fast in Australia, but I'll have chances in May and June overseas."
Australian 100m record-holder Melissa Breen won her race but fell 0.28 short of the Olympic standard, while James Gurr took out the men's 800m but missed out on qualifying by 1.27 seconds.
Earlier, former world discus champion Dani Samuels had a straightforward win on return from injury with a top throw of 63.25m.
Samuels has been struggling with her ankle since rolling it prior to February's Auckland Track Challenge.
"It's just a little bit weak at the moment," she said.
Meanwhile, Alexander Hartmann had a night to remember at the Queensland Track Classic in Brisbane with wins in both the 100m and 200m.
Hartmann beat Olympic 100m hopeful Aaron Stubbs with a personal-best time of 10.29 before then taking out the half-lap event, in which he bettered the Rio qualifying standard last month.
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