The next 10 days will make or break two-time Olympian Lauren Boden's Tokyo hopes, as she awaits her world ranking, but she says she remains focused on her own training and not her rivals results overseas.
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With 34 days to go until the Olympics get underway, the 13-time national champion has to wait until the qualifying period ends on June 29 to learn her fate.
Boden is currently ranked 37th in the world in the 400 metres hurdles, with the top 40 athletes securing themselves a spot in Tokyo.
The Covid-19 pandemic forced Boden and other track and field athletes to miss competitions overseas and within Australia, which all contribute to their rankings.
"Besides running in Sydney at Nationals I've only raced in Canberra. I don't think I've even been on a plane since I got back from the World Champs in Doha at the end of 2019," she said.
"In the lead up it hasn't really been worth putting myself in that situation ... so we've really just had to back ourselves and our plan. It's going to be tight but hopefully it pulls off.
"There's a lot of unknown, uncontrollable variables I suppose, which is why I've just got to focus on ... my training every day and just doing everything I can to still be in the best shape when I hopefully do get to Tokyo."
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The Canberran hopes to join fellow Australian Sarah Carli, who ran below the qualifying time, in Tokyo. Yesterday she raced against Carli and three other Games hopefuls - including Sarah Klein, Genevieve Cowie and Kiwi Portia Bing - in Townsville's Festival of Athletics.
"The idea of racing today [Friday] is to get a good time, obviously, and I've still got a chance to run the 55.40 [seconds] which would get me automatically qualified, but if I don't, it's also a good opportunity to get some more points that will help solidify my spot in the top 40," she said.
After the June 29 date, the Australian track and field team will be confirmed by the second week of July. Before athletes head to Cairns for a camp and then leave for the Games at the end of July.
Despite the short turn around if she qualifies, the 32-year-old is ready.
"My coach Matt Beckenham and I had always planned for me to peak and be in the best shape I could be for Tokyo," Boden said.
"So that did mean taking a little bit of a risk during the reason and potentially not being in my absolute best form, however, winning nationals and some of the times I ran were still quite good so it would be extremely exciting to become a triple Olympian but as this stage I'm just keeping that excitement in check for now.
"Because there's less than two weeks till the cut off and a lot of things can still change, and a lot of that is out of my control but I'll just keep training like I'm going and if I get to go, it'll be a fantastic way to cap off an amazing career and if not, I know I've given everything I could to get there."
Isobel Cootes
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
