Kiwi Maia Ramsden has hacked more than two seconds off the NZ national 1500 metres record at a USATF Grand Prix meet at Los Angeles.
Ramsden, 22, finished 11th in the race, clocking 4m 02.58s to eclipse the previous mark of 4m 04.82s set by Nikki Hamblin at Barcelona in 2011.
The performance also represented a personal best by almost four seconds, faster than the 4m 06.51s she ran in the world indoor final at Glasgow in March. The time left her 0.08s short of qualification for the Paris Olympics.
Ramsden settled near the back of the 17-strong field from the start, but made up three places over the final lap, as others around her faded. Ethiopian Diribe Welteji won in 3m 55.25s, outsprinting countrywoman and world indoor champion Freweyni Hailu.
The US-born Wellingtonian attends Harvard University, where she became only the second Kiwi to win an NCAA outdoor title over 1500 metres last year.
Earlier this year, she won the national collegiate indoor mile crown with a time of 4m 25.13s, while finishing 10th in the world indoor 1500 metres.
Meanwhile, William Stedman has struck gold for New Zealand over T36 400 metres in the world para athletics championships at Kobe, Japan.
Stedman, 24, clocked a personal best 53.36s, finishing strongly down the home straight to catch Australian world recordholder and defending champion James Turner on the finishline.
"It was as close as it's going to get to a perfect race," he said. "I got out well and ran a good first 200m, staying nice and relaxed, then started pushing around the bend and, in that last 100 metres, just focused on being relaxed.
"It wasn't until 50 metres to go when I saw Jimmy getting closer and I thought something could happen here. Then, in the last 10 metres, although my legs were completely shot, the momentum managed to carry me through.
"I’m really happy with the way I ran that race in those conditions and to run a PB is really cool."
The result is the first major international victory for Stedman, who was born with cerebral palsy. He took long jump silver and 400 metres bronze at the Tokyo Paralympics, while finishing runner-up over 400 metres to Turner at last year's para world championships.
The Cantabrian will contest the long jump final next Saturday.
