King Island running sensation Stewart McSweyn has been named among a list of five international athletes expected to have breakout seasons in 2019.
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Influential athletics website flotrack listed the Commonwealth Games representative alongside four others who look set to make huge strides next season.
The website wrote: “2018 was already a breakout season of sorts for the 23-year-old Aussie — he ran 13:05 in the Diamond League 5k final and won the Birmingham mile — but after completing his first season on the Diamond League circuit, McSweyn should elevate his game even more in 2019.”
In an eye-catching, globe-trotting campaign across Europe and North Africa, McSweyn has established new PBs over 1500m (3:34.82 in Germany), 3000m (7:34.79 in Morocco), 5000m (13:05.23 in Belgium), 10,000 (28:05.37 in Oslo) and the mile (3:54.60 in England) in the past four months.
Flotrack continued: “That 13:05.23 5k in Brussels on August 31 was the second-best ever by an Australian, and the promise McSweyn showed in mixing it up with the best East Africans throughout the season across multiple distances was reminiscent of the fastest Aussie in history, Craig Mottram.
“Australia hasn’t had a distance star in the 5000m since Mottram's heyday in the mid-2000s, but based on this year, McSweyn could be that guy in 2019 and beyond.”
The recognition follows Australian running great Steve Moneghetti’s statement in The Examiner in July that McSweyn has the potential to overtake Mottram as Australia’s best track distance runner.
The Flotrack list also included Americans Colleen Quigley and Raevyn Rogers, Jamaican Akeem Bloomfield and Brit Jake Wightman.