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The agent of teen sprinting sensation Torrie Lewis has revealed the races she’s scheduled to run as Australian fans track her path to the Paris Olympics, following a stunning victory that he suspects dealt a world champion “a bit of a shock”.
Meanwhile, Australian sprinting great Melinda Gainsford-Taylor has expressed her delight at the worldwide attention the 19-year-old Queenslander has attracted, having taken down reigning 100m world champion Sha’Carri Richardson three months out from the Paris Games.
Lewis stunned the athletics world by winning the 200m at the season-opening Diamond League meet on Saturday, defeating US megastar Richardson in the Chinese city of Xiamen.
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She came up trumps on her individual Diamond League debut, starring at the world’s leading one-day athletics competition.
Taking on her rivals from way out in lane nine, Lewis triumphed with a time of 22.96 (-0.4 wind).
She’s now set to race at the World Athletics Relays in The Bahamas, taking place from May 4-5, where she’ll run the anchor leg for the Australian 4x100m team.
Lewis’ agent, veteran Australian athletics guru Nic Bideau, said she was also set for the 100m at Tokyo’s Golden Grand Prix on May 19, as well as the 100m and 200m at the Oceania Athletics Championships in Fiji, scheduled for June 4-8.
“She [Richardson] got a bit of a shock, I think. They take it for what it is; they see it as an early-season race and surprises can happen,” Bideau told Wide World of Sports.
“I thought she’d be competitive because being in April all those people are probably lining themselves up for later in the season, whereas she’s been racing. I thought she’d have a chance [of being competitive] and it turned out even better than I thought, winning it and beating Sha’Carri.
“For her Olympic aspirations in the 200m that’ll get her a lot of ranking points. I can’t wait to see where she is in the rankings [when they’re recalculated this week].
“I’m not that cocky that I thought she could beat all those girls [in China], but I thought she could be competitive. I didn’t think they’d be ready to run low 22s; I thought they’d be running more like 22 high, and we know Torrie can do that.”
Lewis had raced the 100m and 200m regularly throughout the Australian domestic season.
In Canberra in January, the England-born speedster clocked 11.10 (+1.6 wind) to break the Australian 100m record set by Melissa Breen in 2014.
Richardson’s only prior competition this season was a 4x100m relay in Florida in March, which was her first race of any kind since September last year.
Lewis’ Diamond League victory drew media coverage from FloTrack and CITIUS MAG — a couple of prominent US athletics publications — as well as the BBC in London.
“Sha’Carri Richardson opened up her 200m season against a field of runners she had never lost a final to at the distance, but it was 19-year-old Torrie Lewis shocking last year’s bronze medallist from Budapest,” CITIUS MAG reported.
“What a moment for 19-year-old Torrie Lewis,” the publication wrote on Instagram.
“If people didn’t know what her name was, now that she’s beaten a world champion like Sha’Carri everyone will be keeping an eye out,” Gainsford-Taylor told Wide World of Sports.
“I love all the media out there; people are asking, ‘Who’s this Torrie Lewis from Australia?’.”
The time of 22.23 run by Gainsford-Taylor in Stuttgart, Germany in 1997 remains the Australian 200m record.
Lewis has her eyes on Gainsford-Taylor’s record, as well as the Australian under-20 record of 22.74, set by the legendary Raelene Boyle at the Mexico City 1968 Olympics.
“I think physically she [Lewis] has the right attributes to be a really good 200m runner; she’s got those long, lean limbs,” Gainsford-Taylor said.
“She also runs a very good bend. The way she transitions off the bend is fantastic.
“One thing that I loved about that race [in China] was how fearless she was within that race.”
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Athletes can either qualify for the Paris Games through world rankings or by meeting the qualification time.
Lewis’ legal 200m personal best is 22.94 and the Olympic entry standard is 22.57. The qualification window will close on June 30.
Bideau is backing the young gun to nail the entry standard.
“I’d be surprised if she doesn’t,” Bideau said.
“She’s got quite a bit of improvement in her.”
At the Australian Track and Field Championships in Adelaide this month, Bideau told Wide World of Sports that the 200m, her preferred distance, would like be her only individual event at the Paris Olympics.
She’s also hoping to race the 4x100m relay.
“Meeting the [200m] standard is just a matter of being in the right race and on a fast track and getting an opportunity, which we’ll try to do,” Bideau said.
“Just the fact she’s run 11.10 for 100m, you’d think she’d be able to run 22.5 for 200m, which is the qualifying time.”
