Kiwi runner George Beamish has earned an historic fifth-place finish in the men's steeplechase at the world championships in Budapest on Wednesday (NZ time).
The result is the best by an NZ men's athlete on the track in the event's 40-year history.
The 26-year-old from Havelock North - who only made his senior steeplechasing debut in April - crossed the line with a time of 8m 13.46s, 10 seconds behind winner and Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco (8m 03.53s) and just 0.20s outside of his national record set in Monaco last month.
His performance surpassed the previous best finish by a Kiwi man in a track race at a World Championships by Nick Willis, who finished sixth in the 1500m final at the 2015 edition in Beijing.
"It gives me a huge amount of confidence leading into Paris next year," said Beamish after the race.
"I can't believe how close the medals were tonight, they were within reach. I don't think I'm going to lose any sleep over it but knowing that it is realistic, and I am looking forward to Paris and think that there is a medal opportunity there for sure."
It's also the highest placing a Kiwi athlete has ever achieved in a steeplechase global event, eclipsing Euan Robertson's sixth-place finish at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
Sitting behind the leading pack for the majority of the race, US-based Beamish exploded through the final lap to overtake three athletes and claim fifth place.
"The race played out like any championship race," he recalled.
"It was cagey at the beginning with people trying to find their position and a lot of jostling in the pack. It was fairly slow for a good time and then those top two guys got away at the end. I found myself in mid-pack.
"I was able to have a good last lap and I picked up a few places towards the end."
Ethiopian Lamecha Girma (8m 05.44s) came in second, with Kenyan Abraham Kibiwot (8m 11.98s) rounding out the podium places.
In other New Zealand-related action on Wednesday, Brad Mathas and James Preston were both eliminated from the first round of the men's 800m heats.
