Australia's Sarah Billings second in 800m at Shanghai Diamond League meet
Sarah Billings has narrowly missed breaking the Australian women's 800 metres record as she enjoyed another breakthrough performance at the Shanghai Diamond League meet.
She clocked a personal best of 1 minute and 57.83 seconds as she chased home Ethiopian winner Tsige Duguma (1:56.64).
Billings's time was just 0.05 outside Catriona Bisset's national mark of 1:57.78, set in London six years ago.
"I couldn't be happier," Billings said after the race.
Photo shows
Eleanor Patterson competing in the high jump at the 2025 Maurie Plant Meet.
Australian high jumpers Eleanor Patterson and Nicola Olyslagers secure top-three finishes at the Xiamen Diamond League meet, while sprinter Lachlan Kennedy places fifth in 100m.
"I've been picked for the world championships in the 1,500m already, so that's still the main goal.
"But that was pretty close to the national record, so I'm really happy."
Billings was not the only Australian to reach the podium.
Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson finished second and third respectively behind Ukraine's Olympic champion and world record holder, Yaroslava Mahuchikh, in the women's high jump.
Olyslagers cleared 1.98m on her second attempt to finish ahead of Patterson (1.95m) but Mahuchikh's 2.00m clearance again put her on top
Mahuchikh won ahead of Patterson and Olyslagers in Xiamen.
Sweden's Olympic and world champion Armand Duplantis soared 6.11m to win the men's pole vault.
Australian Kurtis Marschall cleared 5.72m to claim fourth place.
AAP
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