Peter Bol reclaimed the 800m national record in stunning return to the track

In a statement performance the Tokyo Olympic finalist broke the Australian 800m record in front of his home crowd – who he started saluting even before he crossed the line in 1min43.79sec.

A previous owner of the national record, Bol now reclaims it off his former training partner, Joseph Deng, who was the first Australian to break 1:44 – clocking 1:43.99sec in 2023.

Browning had charged back into reckoning the previous evening by winning the 100m title and Bol, 31, put aside a couple of horror years to announce himself as a serious contender on the world stage again.

An emotional Bol, whose six-month old daughter Reyna was trackside in Perth, said he again felt like the athlete who’d finished fourth in the Olympic 800m final – just 0.53sec off the podium – four years ago.

“I didn’t even think about the national record. I thought about getting the fourth national title and I just knew I had to get out hard and the boys would chase,” Bol said.

“I didn’t want to get stuck at the back, I wanted to race just like I was at the Olympic Games so I did that and we came with a world class performance.”

The first six across the line ran personal bests with Peyton Craig (1:44.07sec) grabbing second and early leader Luke Boyes (1:44.50sec) third.

Bol has slowly rebuilt his career after receiving a drug suspension in January 2023. He always maintained his innocence and was eventually cleared by Sports Integrity Australia in August 2023.

But he struggled in his return to the track, lacking motivation and form, barely qualifying for the Paris Olympics where he was run out in the heats.

This season he has been a different man, getting engaged with fatherhood giving him a new lease on life on and off the track.

“We just left everything behind and we’re focusing on looking just forward,” Bol said. “As I said before, I’d never take anything back, it’s a growth period that I learned from but I’d never want it back at the same time.

“I’m just happy to be here, My daughter just turned six months, I’m back home with my family all out here watching. So I’m just bringing it back to my old values which are family, faith and health. I’m healthy, my family is good and I’m performing.”

Bol said it was good symmetry that this year’s world championships are back in Tokyo in September, the location of his career-best performance.

“This happened last time when we had the Olympics in Tokyo and I’m fitter than ever and faster than I have ever run,” he said. “I’m in good shape. I’ve said this so many times, physically but more mentally, we’re happy.

“We’re running for Australia, running for family, running for everything. At the moment, just with so much more purpose.

“I mean, to be honest, I should have been at this level years ago. Obviously I had some interruptions but to be back here to know exactly this is where I belong, it’s great.

“You know, I always knew I could do it, it’s just been a matter of time. There was that frustration year after year of not doing it, Joseph Deng has been able to do it here and there, but we need someone to do it consistently and I’m ready to take that.”

Bol, who is managed by James Templeton who also looks after Gout Gout, admitted to being motivated by the sprinter’s headline-grabbing resurgence.

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“What’s crazy is, I think the sprinters have been taking all the limelight and rightly so,” Bol said. “I thought, man, these guys can run nine and 10 flat in the heat and the semis.

“I’m gonna come out here and do something otherwise you’d be forgotten.”

In the women’s 800m final Victorian Abbey Caldwell unleashed a stunning burst over the final 200m to claim the national title in 2:0mm.51sec from Paris Olympic semi-finalist Claudia Hollingsworth (2:00.90sec).