Stewart McSweyn wins third straight Zatopek 10
A golden night for Stewart McSweyn saw him win his third straight Zatopek 10 in an Australian record and a third different Olympic qualifier.
The 24-year-old King Islander's time of 27:23.80 was more than a second inside the national record and means he now has Tokyo qualifying times over 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m.
McSweyn broke away with Queenslander Pat Tiernan and went solo in a blistering final lap at Box Hill in Melbourne.
AUSTRALIAN RECORD and Tokyo 2020 auto-nomination - Stewart McSweyn has won the 2019 Zatopek:10 in 27:23.80
— Athletics Australia (@AthsAust) December 14, 2019
2nd – Patrick Tiernan (27:31.20)
3rd – Jack Bruce (28:15.94)#thisisathletics
Congrats Stewart – you are the 10,000m Australian champion! pic.twitter.com/59A9TRJFgY
"With five laps to go I was hurting and tried to avoid looking at the lap counter and with two to go I thought maybe I could get close to the national record and just gave it everything I had over that last 400m," he said.
In the men's 1500m, Launceston's James Hansen led for much of the race before being overtaken on the finishing straight.
Callum Davies (3:43.51) won the race from Jeffrey Riseley (3:43.73) with 26-year-old Hansen third in 3:43.85.
Australian Record (27:23.80)
— Athletics Victoria (@athsvic) December 14, 2019
3 #ZATOPEK:10 titles, in a row. #Tokyo2020 Qualifier. @Stewy_mac3, take a bow. pic.twitter.com/873vLqFPSg