Chris Mitrevski put in an outstanding performance on the final day of the Australian Athletics Championships, winning the long jump with a jump that would have guaranteed him a medal at every Olympic Games since 1992.
The 27-year-old Victorian jumped to 8.32m, moving him into sixth place on Australia's all-time list, ahead of the likes of 1984 Olympic silver medalist Gary Honey and 1998 Commonwealth champion Peter Burge.
The jump was good enough to earn him bronze medals at the Rio and Tokyo Olympics, and was just one centimeter better than British Greg Rutherford's gold medal at the 2012 London Games.
Mitrevski has represented Australia at the past two World Championships, and did not miss the cut in either event.
The challenge now is to repeat Sunday's performance on the track's biggest stage in Paris in early August.
“Two years ago at nationals, we just scratched the surface and did pretty well,” Mitrevski said.
“Thanks to that experience, I started to believe that there was more to me and that I could strive for a medal, not just put up numbers at the Olympics.
“I've been really struggling with consistency and I hope this is a step beyond that and I can go even further.”
Sunday's win was a huge improvement for Mitrevski, beating his previous personal best by 11 centimeters.
“It definitely felt like a PB,” he said.
“I've never done an 8.30 second jump so I don't know what it feels like, but it felt better than any jump I've ever done before.
“I spent a lot of time over them, and I had to land and run off to the side, and I could see that it was quite far away.”
It was a particular thrill for Mitrevski to surpass Honey on Australia's all-time records list.
“Gary and I are pretty good friends and we talk a lot,” he said.
“He should be very happy that I overtook him, but I'll talk to him soon.”
