Tasmanian trail-blazer Stewart McSweyn was proud of his 12th place in his maiden athletics world championship final.
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The 24-year-old King Islander's 5000 metres time of 13:30.41 in Doha was 10 seconds slower than his heat and 25 seconds off his personal best.
"That was tough," he said.
"My aim was to stay on the lead group and put myself in a position to be competitive. I hung on for as long as I could, but at about six laps to go I was gassed.
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"But I am proud I kept up as long as I could. I gave it everything, no excuses, I just wasn't good enough this time."
Ethiopian Muktar Edris won in 12:58.85.
Launceston-born McSweyn will enjoy a three-day break before the 1500m heats from 5am on Friday (Tastime) with the semi-finals the following day at 3.05am and the final on Monday at 2.40am.
"I'll be taking it easy over the next few days, I've got big goals for the 1500m as well," McSweyn said.
"The first step is getting through that heat, so I'll get a massage and warm-down and I'll be ready to go in a couple of days."
Para sending
Three Tasmanians are in the 38-athlete team named to represent Australia at the World Para-athletics Championships in Dubai from November 7-15.
Former world champions Todd Hodgetts and Deon Kenzie will be joined by 2018 Commonwealth Games representative Sam Walker.
Melbourne-based former Newstead Harrier Hodgetts will contest his pet event, the F20 shot put.
Walker, of Hobart, is competing in the T38 shot, and Kenzie, of Forth, will run the T38 1500m.
For the 24 men and 14 women, this is a critical phase of the team's preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
At the 2017 championships in London, Australia won 11 gold, nine silver, and eight bronze medals to place fifth on the overall table behind China (30 gold), USA (20 gold), Great Britain (18) and Ukraine (12).
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