Blundell hits fine form to boost Rio chances

In seven years, NSWIS track and field athlete Jenny Blundell has bettered her 1500m personal best to the tune of 23 seconds, eight of those coming in the past 12 months. It’s a significant improvement by anyone’s measure and one that sees Blundell put her name among the contenders to be selected for the final two women’s 1500m places for the Rio Olympics.  

The watershed moment for the 21-year-old was just two nights ago when she ran the fifth fastest time ever by an Australian woman, and also a personal best of 4:04.62 at the IAAF World Challenge in Beijing. The time was quicker than that of Victorian Melissa Duncan who has already been selected to represent Australia in the event after she ran a 4:05.56 qualifier in June 2015. 

While Blundell had been with NSWIS for some time throughout her junior career, it wasn’t until she came on board with a full scholarship in October 2014 that she began the path to becoming a true champion of the support that NSWIS provides it’s athletes. 

In early 2014 Blundell put down a 1500m time of 4:12:00 to finish third at the Australian Championships, won by Victoria’s Zoe Buckman in a time of 4.10.86. Although Blundell’s 2015 best time of 4:14.62 may have seemed like a step backwards, behind the scenes she was building the foundations for future success with NSWIS biomechanics, strength and conditioning and physiotherapy. 

Blundell’s team at NSWIS helped the young charge overcome a torn calf muscle that she carried into last year’s national championships, and in the process changed the way she moved and her running style to promote greater efficiency across the ground and make her a technically more succinct runner. 

The result of so much change is the eight-second improvement on her personal best, and a time that has eclipsed Duncan’s qualifier from 2015. Only Victoria’s Linden Hall has posted a quicker time, a 4:04.47 – less than two tenths of a second quicker, and like Blundell is waiting in the wings to see if she will join Duncan in Rio. 

With Duncan sewing up on of three places available on the team, the selection of the final two places on the Australian team is set to be one of the most fiercely contested. Hall and Blundell have posted the quickest qualifiers so far but another Victorian, Zoe Buckman, has also posted a qualifying time and NSW runner Heidi See is in the hunt to post an Olympic standard. 

As the final decision is yet to be made on which combination will represent Australia in the 1500m, it is clear that Blundell won’t be resting on her laurels after posting a quick qualifying time.

“It’s an Olympic year, you’ve just got to run as fast as you can. 4:04 is quick, but it might not be fast enough,” Blundell told Athletics Australia.  

Seven years work, the fifth fastest time in Australian women’s 1500m history and a strong support network, Blundell has done everything possible to be on that plane to Rio.