Zoe Hobbs has achieved a feat no other female Kiwi sprinter has accomplished in nearly three decades, but she admits her record-equalling effort in the 100m at the New Zealand Track and Field Championships was "bittersweet".
Hobbs on Friday matched the record time of 11.32 seconds set by Michelle Seymour in 1993.
However, time is running out for the 23-year-old Aucklander to qualify for the Olympic Games in Tokyo in July.
A complicated process awaits, as Hobbs must either qualify off the ranking system of which she has to be in the top 32 of by Sunday, or run under the 11.15s qualifying mark in competition by late June to meet the auto-standard.
She is ranked 49th in the world.
"It's kind of bittersweet because it's an equal record. I've been chasing it all year, so to finally do it on the last competition, I'm stoked," Hobbs told the Herald.
"I don't really know where I'm at, at the moment. It's hard because to try and run a time here in winter isn't really in question because when sprinting you want hot conditions. If I go, I'd have to go to Aussie and that's a question of getting an MIQ spot and it makes it tricky to know what's going to happen from here with Covid restraints and what not.
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"I need to have that conversation with my coach to see if we do target some competitions to run the auto."
Originally scheduled for February, the Track and Field Champs were postponed due to nationwide Covid-19 alert level changes. The delay proved mentally challenging, Hobbs admits.
"I've been a little bit mentally tapped out. Initially, I thought it was okay and then I realised it was going to be four weeks until the Nationals from the last competition that we had and I kind of just had a bit of a mental block," Hobbs said.
"I just kind of had to overcome that and keep the momentum going. I wasn't expecting it to go as well as it did today, so that's a real bonus. I'm real happy with how it's gone.
"A PB [personal best] is what I was after."
Hobbs' coach James Mortimer said the pair remain focused on getting her to Tokyo.
"In the right conditions and the right competition, running 11.15 is not out of her reach," Mortimer said.
"Going over to Australia and getting some good competition from the fast Australian girls who have really stepped it up this year would've been great, and it's been a bit unfortunate she hasn't been able to get over there to really push herself.
"But we'll sit down and work out how we're going to get her back into shape and get her firing at the right time again."
