The breakthrough campaign of Sarah Billings has rolled on at the Shanghai Diamond League which saw her become the second fastest Australian woman in history over 800m, finishing in second place as high jumpers Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson also landed on the podium.
Continuing her strong form in 2025, Billings (Nic Bideau) battled valiantly to second place in the Women’s 800m to make it back-to-back top three finishes on the Diamond League circuit, setting a personal best of 1:57.83 to finish just 0.05-second outside of the national record.
Becoming only the second Australian woman to shatter the 1:58 barrier alongside Catriona Bisset, Billings bided her time before bursting through the pack to finish behind only Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma (1:56.64), adding the result to last week’s 2:33.45 performance over 1000m when finishing in third place at the Xiamen Diamond League.
“Today I had a really clear race plan, I just wanted to go really hard at 300m [to go]. My coach Nic told me this morning that gaps open up with 100m to go on the inside and to watch for it; I watched for it and some opened up,” Billings said.
Entering the race with a personal best of 1:58.94, Billings cemented her new level which has already seen her earn selection for the 2025 World Athletics Championships to be hosted in Tokyo, Japan this September.
“I couldn’t be happier! I have been picked for the World Championships in the 1500m already so that’s still the main goal, but I think that was pretty close to the national record, so I’m just really happy,” Billings said.
The high jump duo of Olyslagers (Matt Horsnell) and Patterson (Fayaaz Caan) continued their Diamond League prominence with second and third placings respectively, only bettered on the night by world record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh (UKR).
Olyslagers cleared 1.98m on her second attempt to separate herself from Patterson who finished with 1.95m, while Mahuchikh’s clean sheet to 2.00m proved too slick in the early season showing.
“The competition today was a big improvement from last week [Xiamen], I enjoyed it! Today I had courage and I am thankful for that,” Olyslagers said.
“This is the first time I have started my season a bit later, so every jump of course I want to be over two metres and getting personal bests, but I have great faith that God will get me ready. I don’t worry about the past, I just go forward.”
Adding to the Australian action in Shanghai, pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall (Paul Burgess) soared up and over 5.72m to claim fourth place on what proved to be a challenging night across the board, while Matthew Clarke (Adam Didyk) produced a run of 8:28.86 for 10th place in the 3000m Steeplechase and Mackenzie Little (Angus McEntyre) claimed ninth in the Javelin with 56.85m.
Rounding out the Australian action was rising middle-distance talent Jude Thomas (Collis Birmingham) who marked his Diamond League debut over 5000m with a run of 13:32.99 for 16th place, while Liam Adcock clinched seventh place in the pre-program Long Jump with a leap of 7.84m (+0.7).
The Diamond League will make its next stop in Doha on May 16.
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Australian Athletics
Posted 3/5/2025
