ANOTHER inter-school carnival, another Australian and Tasmanian 100m record for Hobart’s 16-year-old long jump and sprinting sensation Jack Hale.
Last month the St Virgils student broke the Tasmanian open and Australian under 18 100m records, as well as becoming the fastest under 17 athlete in the world, with a blistering 10.44-second run at the Southern SATIS athletics carnival.
At yesterday’s state SATIS carnival, Hale proved to any doubters in Tasmanian and Australian athletics that he is the real deal as he produced another record-breaking run of 10.42 seconds, to take out the under 16 boys 100m.
Hale, who finished in front of Hutchins’ Russel Taib, was only aided by a 0.7m per second tailwind, which meant the run was well and truly legal.
Not only did his latest blistering run see him improve his national and state records, it also saw him move up to equal sixth on the IAAF world youth rankings for the 100m.
Hale, who ironically was presented with a certificate honouring his previous record-breaking run after Saturday’s race, said he was ecstatic to prove he’s no fluke.
“Warming up I felt pretty quick,” he said.
“I thought I could get close to my previous best, maybe a little better but I didn’t really expect to run 10.44 seconds.”
Hale’s latest speedy performance was made all the more exceptional as it was revealed that he carried a bruised heel into the event, which forced him to withdraw from his favoured long jump even though he maintained it had no effect on his sprinting.
As with his previous run, prominent figures from Australian and Tasmanian athletics were gushing with praise over Hale’s performance.
