Rising star Delta Amidzovski has obliterated the great Sally Pearson's 20-year-old Australian under-18 100-metre hurdles record on the final day of the Australian junior championships in Brisbane.
The 16-year-old from New South Wales stopped the clock at 13.02 seconds on Sunday, shaving 0.12 seconds off the mark set by London Olympics gold medallist and two-time world champion Pearson in 2003.
"I was just about to cry at the finish line. It's such a blessing," said Amidzovski, who has now bettered the 100m hurdles qualifying standard for August's Commonwealth Youth Games four times.
"You put in so much hard work and [to] see it all pay off. It's an indescribable feeling.
"Sally has always been an idol. She's the best Australian hurdler of all time, so to break her record is a dream come true for any athlete."
Amidzovski came into the junior championships with a personal best of 13.42 and said the national record was not even on her radar until she arrived in Brisbane.
"I hadn't really looked [at the record] until I came here, but my dad just said: 'Go for it'. He said: 'Give it everything you can'," she recalled.
"I didn't think I would get it, but the fact that I did it, I'm really happy.
"I've got a while to keep improving on this, too."
The versatile Amidzovski also won the Australian under-18 long jump title earlier in the meet.
Her record-setting performance came just 24 hours after 15-year-old Ipswich sprinter Gout Gout cracked the 21-second mark for the first time, clocking 20.87 seconds into a slight headwind.
Gout — who only turned 15 last December — was 0.03 under the previous record, jointly held by Darren Clark, Paul Greene and Zane Branco.
AAP/ABC
