KING Island’s Stewart McSweyn has become only the second Australian in history to run sub-13 minutes over 5000m. He achieved the record at the Brussels Diamond League. McSweyn is now under a second off Craig Mottram’s Australian 5000m record set in London in 2004.
After the run McSweyn told AAP he was in pretty good shape and thought he could run a PB, but to run 12:56 was a big step forward. “I wasn’t really focusing on records too much tonight. Hopefully with better preparation there is a lot more time there to take off my PB.”
Running 12:56.50 he joins an elite group of only nine athletes who have run under 3:30, 7:30 and 13:00 for the respective distances 1500, 3000, 5000 metres, over the last three years of racing.
The 2022 Diamond League started in May, featuring 12 meetings.
On night two of the Diamond League 1500m final in Zurich, McSweyn missed out on the podium to finish fifth with his fourth best time of 3:31.45.