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Claudia Hollingsworth, Luke Boyes claim Australian 800m titles

Claudia Hollingsworth, pictured in February, has stormed home to win the 800m title at the national championships on Sunday.

Claudia Hollingsworth, pictured in February, has stormed home to win the 800m title at the national championships on Sunday. Photo: Getty

Teen sensation Claudia Hollingsworth has passed her Olympic qualification examination with flying colours by storming home to win the women’s 800m at the Australian track and field championships in Adelaide.

The women’s two-lap final was billed as the event of the meet and it more than lived up to expectations on Sunday.

National record holder Catriona Bisset made the early running, but it was young tyros Hollingsworth and Abbey Caldwell duelling it out in the final straight.

Hollingsworth hung tough to claim the win in a personal best of one minute 58.40 seconds ahead of Caldwell (1:59.01), Bendere Oboya and Bisset.

All four broke the two-minute barrier, with Hollingsworth and Caldwell also again dipping under the automatic Olympic qualifying mark.

“It’s pure elation, just a huge weight off my shoulders,” said Hollingsworth, who turned 19 on Friday.

“I’ve been thinking about this one race for so long now and just to have it over with is so exciting.

“Now I can relax and really focus on the rest of the season. It’s pure joy.”

Fellow youngster Luke Boyes caused a boilover in the men’s 800m with a gutsy front-running victory in a personal best of 1:44.73.

Tokyo Olympics finalist Peter Bol was second in 1:45.06 and Peyton Craig third.

Boyes, 20, missed the automatic Olympic qualifier by just three hundredths of a second.

Michelle Jenneke turned the tables on her big domestic rival Liz Clay to win the women’s 100m hurdles in 12.88.

Clay, who spent a long time on the sidelines after breaking her foot at the 2022 world championships, was second in 13.03.

Two-time Olympic finalist Brooke Buschkuehl took a big step towards a third Games team by winning a sixth national long jump title with 6.50m.

The first members of the Australian track and field squad for the Paris Olympics will be named at the conclusion of the championships later on Sunday.

-AAP

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