ALEXANDRA Hills athlete Jarmillia Murphy-Knight has been named the fastest Australian 400m hurdler in the past six years to have qualified for the IAAF World Under 20s Championships semi-finals.
The 18-year-old sliced 0.45 seconds off her previous personal best result by running 59.19 seconds and placed fourth in the heats on July 11 in Tampere, Finland.
She returned to the track the next day and made her third fastest time in her career after dipping under 60 seconds with a 59.69 time.
Despite dropping her place by two spots, Murphy-Knight said she felt she did a good job.
"It's a really big thing, coping with all the nerves and competing in front of so many people here and back home,” she said.
“I (made a personal best) in the heats and did the best I could in the semis and you know, that’s all you could ask for.”
In April last year, Murphy-Knight ran her first sub-60 time at the Senior Australian Championships before competing at the Australian Under 20s Championships trials four months ago.
She again dipped under the 60 second barrier to win the event and achieved an automatic selection for Tampere.
Murphy-Knight has been competing in 400m hurdles for the past four years and aims to take part in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
