Carli chasing Olympic mark at Canberra Track Classic

Australia’s Sarah Carli isn’t heaping pressure on herself to run an Olympic qualifying time at the Canberra Track Classic, but admits the clock is ticking on booking her ticket to Paris.

The 29-year-old Tokyo Games competitor will run the 400m hurdles at Saturday’s event in the nation’s capital – her only opportunity on home soil to register the Olympic standard of 54.85 seconds for her pet event.

Carli ran a 54.66 personal best outside the qualifying window in Finland last June, and the Wollongong product is keen to ride the fast Canberra track to a similar time at the weekend.

“We know I’m fit, we know I’m fast, and I’m excited to put that together,” she said on Friday.

“We haven’t had too many races in the build up, but sometimes when there’s no expectation it’s nice to just get out there and run a race.

“Being an Olympic year, that qualifying standard is always in the back of my mind when I step onto the track – but it’s my first race of the season.

“I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself, I’m really just looking forward to enjoying the race and executing what we’ve been doing in training.”

At the typically quick Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) track, men’s 100m specialists Josh Azzopardi and Jacob Despard will look to improve on their recent hot form – each has recorded a personal best 10.15 this season.

Teen star Torrie Lewis is clear favourite for the women’s 100m, having already run an 11.10 this season in Canberra, putting her agonisingly close to the 11.07 Olympic standard.

Torrie Lewis is a clear favourite in the women’s 100m in Canberra as she chases Olympic qualifying. (Matt Turner/AAP PHOTOS)

Over 400m, 21-year-old Reece Holder is looking to take 0.82 seconds off his season mark to run a qualifying time.

Holder is the only entrant at the Canberra Track Classic who’s ever gone beyond the Olympic threshold of 45.00.

Perth-born French sprinter Sasha Zhoya is more focused on enjoying his time in the country of his birth and producing an injury-free run than in hitting his 110m hurdles peak too early in the season.

The 21-year-old, who switched to represent France in 2020, ran a 13.45 in Perth last weekend into a headwind.

“I don’t want to put the bar too high at the start of the season,” he said.

“I just want to have a clean race and then vibe out, make sure I’m enjoying myself … it’s my last race in Australia, so really want to make the most of it and have fun.”