Catriona Bisset breaks 43-year-old Australian 800m record

Just months after shocking Australian athletics by claiming national 800m title, Catriona Bisset has knocked off a record that has stood for over four decades.

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It was just over three months ago that Catriona Bisset was a surprise winner of the national 800m title.

Now the Melbourne university student is the Australian record holder after lowering Charlene Rendina’s 43-year-old record with a stunning performance at the London Diamond League meet.

In an extraordinary breakout season Bisset, 25, has gone from relatively unknown to a potential Olympic finalist.

Bisset stormed home to finish second behind local star Lynsey Sharp on day two of the London meet in the new record time of 1min58.78sec.

Catriona Bisset will now set her sights on the world championships. Picture: Getty

Rendina’s mark of 1:59.0sec had stood the test of time since 1976 despite the concerted efforts of one of Australia's best athletes of recent times Tamsyn Lewis.

Lewis went agonisingly close numerous times throughout her decorated career but was unable to crack it.

She was quick to congratulate Bisset on social media: “So stoked that @catrionabisset smashed this time overnight. Was great reward for a brave domestic runner. So impressive & so much more to come. On the bandwagon!!”

❤️ that the IAAF recognised my time too as old fastest electronic one. Thank you appreciate it. So stoked that @catrionabisset smashed this time overnight. Was great reward for a brave domestic runner. So impressive & so much more to come. On the bandwagon!! @AthsAust pic.twitter.com/nA1id91O9A

— Tamsyn Lewis Manou (@tamsynlewis) July 22, 2019

The only Australian track record older than Rendina's 800m time is Peter Norman's 200m mark of 20.06 seconds which dates all the way back to the final at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.

After winning the national title in April, Bisset has won the Oceania and World University 800m titles and now shapes as one of Australia’s best hopes at the world championships in Doha in September.

“I knew I had that kind of race in me just because of the winning streak,” she said.

“I knew if I had a quick pacemaker I could take some time off some my PB and I took exactly a second off.

“Lynsey felt me coming round and pushed me out onto lane two but that was great. I felt so strong, coming down the back straight.

Charlene Rendina.

“I feel like I still had a lot in me and it was nice to push it all the way.”

Bisset, who is coached by Cathy Freeman's former mentor Peter Fortune, only returned to running two years to help with her mental health.

She had been a promising junior athlete before leaving the sport as she battled a number of health issues as a teenager.

Fellow Australian Morgan Mitchell also produced a personal best in the London event, clocking 2min00.06sec to book her spot for the Doha world titles.

In the men’s mile rising star Matt Ramsden took five seconds from his personal best, clocking 3min53.32 to finish fifth while Ryan Gregson came in ninth (3:54.54sec).

The highlights from day one of the meet for the Aussies was Stewart McSweyn finishing fourth in the 5000m (13:05.63sec) and Kelsey-Lee Barber grabbing second in the javelin throw with 65.85m.