Luke Mathews moves step closer to Rio Olympics after running second in men’s 800m at IAAF World Challenge in Melbourne

HE may have pushed the greatest 800m runner in history but Luke Mathews’ coach believes he will end up being a 1500m champion.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 05: Luke Mathews of Australia celebrates running a n Olympic qualifying time in the Men's 800 Metres during the IAAF World Challenge at Olympic Park on March 5, 2016 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

HE may have pushed the greatest 800m runner in history but Luke Mathews’ coach believes he will end up being a 1500m champion.

The 20-year-old from Newport was the toast of the athletics world on Saturday night when he produced a career-best performance against Olympic and world champion David Rudisha at the IAAF World Challenge event in Melbourne.

Mathews moved up to the shoulder of the Kenyan superstar around the final bend and then hung tough to the line to register a massive personal best and Olympic A-standard qualifying time of 1min45.16sec.

It moved him to sixth on Australia’s all-time list and is the fastest run by an Aussie on home soil since Peter Bourke in 1982.

All Mathews needs to do now is run in the top three at next month’s Olympic trials in Sydney to book his spot on the plane to Rio.

In his first competitive run of the season, Rudisha clocked 1:44.78sec to continue his love affair with Melbourne where he has now won five times.

“Coming here I was hoping for something like 1:44, 1:45,” Rudisha, who broke the world record in the 2012 Olympic final, said. “So I was happy to start with that.”

David Rudisha crosses the line in first ahead of Luke Mathews. Picture: Getty

Mathews is weighing up whether to focus on the 800m or 1500m at his first Olympics.

He will bypass the opportunity to race Rudisha again in Perth next week in favour of trying to get the 1500m Olympic qualifying time at the Sydney Track Classic on March 19.

“To make the Olympic final in both would be amazing,” Mathews said. “I just think there is a better chance of making the 1500m final because there are only three heats and 12 make the final.

“The 800 is pretty cut-throat so looking at it that way you’d have to say the 1500.”

His coach, Nic Bideau, said the most likely scenario is the former APS champion with St Kevin’s will focus on the 800m in the short-term.

“The first priority is to get him picked in the 800, then we’ll look at the timetable because eventually I believe he will be a great 1500 runner,” Bideau said.

“We’ll try and get him in both and then test him against better opposition overseas to see where he’s at.”

Bideau wasn’t surprised to see Mathews taking it up to the world’s best.

“I thought he would have a chance but Rudisha is a superstar who is so hard to pass,” he said.

“The best thing about Luke is he’s young and he has this braveness about him. The fitness will come but the main reason he will make it is because he has this willingness and competitiveness to be involved.

“Some guys spend their whole careers trying to find that, this kid has got it.”

Mathews, who was previously coached by his mother, Elizabeth, before joining the Melbourne Track Club last year, has been a revelation over the summer.

He started the Australian season with victory at the Hunter Classic in a personal best 1:46.35sec before pushing his training partner, 1500m national record holder Ryan Gregson, to finish a close second at the Briggs Athletics Classic in Hobart.

Mathews then produced a record-breaking victory at the Victoria’s Mile Championships where he went under the four-minute mile for the first time, clocking 3:56.10sec.

Originally published as Luke Mathews moves step closer to Rio Olympics after running second in men’s 800m at IAAF World Challenge in Melbourne