Kiwi speedster Zoe Hobbs has shaved another fraction of a second off her own NZ and Oceania 100m records to progress to the world championship semi-finals at Eugene, Oregon.
Running in the first of seven heats, Hobbs, 24, took one-hundredth of a second off her previous marks, set at the Oceania championships last month, clocking 11.08s for second place, behind Jamaican Shericka Jackson (11.02s).
Trailling fourth through halfway, she ran down fast-starting rivals Xiaojing Liang and Bahamanian Anthonique Strachan to reach the next stage as 12th-fastest qualifier - the first Kiwi woman to make a world championships 100m semi.
The performance represents the fifth time Hobbs has improved the national record since December.
"I'm just so stoked to make the semi and get a PB at the same time," she said. "It's really cool.
"I didn't know that I had finished second or noticed anyone around me, I was just trying to piece together my own race. I did panic a bit towards the end and that is something I would like to clean up tomorrow.
"[Today] takes a little bit of pressure off, I had an expectation within myself to make the semi. I'd been quite nervous all day and, in a sense, I’ve got nothing to lose tomorrow."
Meanwhile, Eddie Osei-Nketia was unable to duplicate his national record in the men's 100m semi-finals, clocking 10.29s for seventh and failing to reach the final.
In the heats, Osei-Nketia, 21, ran 10.08s to break the NZ mark previously held by dad Gus Nketia.
Sam Tanner has qualified for the men's 1500m semis, finishing fifth in his heat with 3m 39.33s, while Maddie Wesche placed seventh in the women's shot put final, defeating Commonwealth Games champion Danniel Thomas-Dodd with a personal best of 19.50m - 40cm further than her previous mark.
