Fresh Mathews retains title

RIO Olympian Luke Mathews has defended his national men’s 800m title in dramatic fashion, edging a resurgent Josh Ralph in Sydney.

Mathews, who has raced sparingly since February’s Nitro Athletics meet, finished in one minute 46.71 to pip Ralph (1:46.76) by five hundredths of a second and leave Alex Rowe (1:47.29) trailing in third yesterday.

Sprint darling Morgan Mitchell claimed her third 400m title to confirm her ticket to August’s world championships in London. The 22-year-old’s third world title-qualifying time of 52.08 last night was well outside her 51.25 personal best but still far too quick for Olivia Tauro (53.10) and Lauren Wells (53.84) in third.

“I’m interested to see what my splits were. Maybe I went a little hard early but all I wanted was the win,” Mitchell said.

“Now I can focus on getting ready for overseas.

“The goal every year in the domestic season is to get your spot on the team and then keep moving forward.”

In the men’s 400m, Steve Solomon got the job done after rushing home from Stanford University to defend his crown in 46.66.

American-based Heidi See became the third woman to claim three consecutive Australian 1500m titles when she crossed first in 4:23.99, edging out Rio semi-finalists Zoe Buckman (4:24.33) and Linden Hall (4:24.53).

Having already won the Australian 5000m title, See is in the box seat for a London berth in both events.