Murphy runs fastest 200m in the country as State Records tumble at Interclub 4

Published Tue 30 Nov 2021

Saints Athletics Club sprinter Aidan Murphy ran the fastest 200m of any Australian man this year and broke a 35-year-old State Record during Saturday's Copyworld Toshiba Interclub competition.

The 18-year-old ran a personal best time of 20.64, which was enough to break Steve McBain's U20 Men's State Record (21.21), set in Athens in 1986.

Aidan Murphy won the Men's 200m on Saturday in an U20 State Record 20.64 ahead of Saints teammates Michael Brusnahan and Joshua Love.

See all of the Results from Copyworld Toshiba Interclub 4 here

Find the Updated Interclub Premiership Points Table Here

See photographs from the event here

He managed to shift Connor Diffey's 20.73 and Tokyo Olympian Rohan Browning's 20.77 down the list for fastest 200m times run by a male athlete this year.

Murphy now holds three 200m State Records, in the U20, U18 and U16 age groups, and on Saturday went within 0.05 of breaking Bruce Frayne's 41-year-old Open Men's State Record (20.59).

Murphy, who is a member of Athletics SA's Emerging Athlete Program (EAP), said the Open Record was in his sights for this season.

"To break this U20 record is so rewarding, my coach (Peter Fitzgerald) and I have been working so hard to get to this," Murphy said.

"It is only the start of the season, and to get this record out the way early means we can progress forward from here and I can't wait.

"It feels like the work we did in the winter season has really paid off - it has been great to get under Fitzy's wing who was able to coach me this winter and through into the summer.

"Bruce Frayne's Open record is a quick time, but we have plenty of time to get that under the wing, so we will be looking for that soon."

Despite a strong start to the summer season, Murphy said Saturday's record suprised him more than anyone.

"I wasn't feeling my best when I woke up (on Saturday morning)," he said.

"I got of the blocks well and kept building from there - I don't have too much of a racing plan, I just get out and run it and see how we go."

He said a Commonwealth Games debut was amongst his goals for this season.

Murphy is the son of two-time Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist Tania Van Heer, who holds seven State Records of her own, including Open and U20 Women's 100m, Open, U20 and U18 200m and Open and U18 400m.

Round 4 of the Copyworld Toshiba Interclub competition was a huge week for records as eight State Records were broken.

There was a lot to record in the Shot Put circle as Hugo Taheny (Western AC) threw a F21 Australian Record and near World Record 10.61m, EAP member and Tea Tree Gully Athletics Centre thrower Marley Raikiwasa broke the U18 Women's State Record with an attempt of 15.23m, Sam Paech (Hills Districts AC) threw 10.78 to break the Men's F37 Record, and Lillee Wakefield (Northern Districts) managed a F20 record with an 8.59m effort.