Australian Catriona Bisset has taken another step forward in her remarkable breakout season by winning the women's 800m at the Oceania athletics championships in Townsville.
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The 25-year-old is a guaranteed starter for the world championships in Doha later this year having won the national title in early April.
A week later she became the first Australian woman in 11 years to break the two-minute barrier in the 800m.
Her winning time of two minutes 02.16 seconds on Thursday was not quite at that level, but it will still gain Bisset a a big swag of qualifying points for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
New Zealander Angela Petty was second in 2:03.41 and Australian Morgan Mitchell was third in 2:05.02.
"I felt very comfortable and relaxed," said Bisset.
"It's been a few months since my last race so I just wanted to run a little more conservatively on the first lap and make sure I wasn't extending myself.
"I went through a bit slower than I wanted and that cost me a second or two but I felt very strong running through the 600 and then started striding out towards the end.
"Bring it home and that's it - job done."
Joshua Ralph - who combined with Bisset to win silver in the 2x2x400m at the world relays in Japan last month - held off the challenge of fellow Australian Mason Cohen to win the men's 800m in 1:49.34.
London Olympics finalist Steve Solomon and Bendere Oboya led Australian medal sweeps in the 400m races.
Solomon (46.12) edged out rising star Tyler Gunn (46.51) and Alex Beck (46.61) to win the men's race.
Solomon's winning effort was nearly a second shy of the automatic qualifying mark for the world titles in Doha.
"It's a championship event so the most important thing is getting the win," he said.
"I've been really happy with my training in the last couple of weeks.
"We've had a long and lingering injury which has been going back and forth which is always a little frustrating.
"But credit to my coach Penny Gillies; she's amazing at adapting the program and embracing the reality of where we are and dealing with it."
Oboya won the women's one-lap race in 52.76 ahead of Caitlin Jones and Angie Blackburn.
Marathon specialist Sinead Diver won the women's 10,000m in 32:25.86 and Ben Buckingham and Paige Campbell claimed the 3000m steeplechase titles.
Australian Associated Press
