Jack Hale storms to victory and breaks a sprint record that has stood since 1966

Tasmanian sprinter Jack Hale storms to scintillating victory and smashes Australian record that has stood since 1966. WATCH THE RACE >>

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HE’S the fastest man in Australia right now and Tasmanian rocket Jake Hale proved that by breaking a 55-year-old Australia record for the 100 yards sprint at Geelong on Saturday night.

It has the 22-year-old from Hobart pumped with confidence that he can finally break the 10-second barrier for the 100m sprint on his way to claiming his place in the Australian Olympic track and field team for the Tokyo Olympics in July.

Australia’s fastest sprinter in 2020, Hale, who has been based in Melbourne since 2017, ran 9.43s to win the David Baxter 100 yard [91.44m] championship and break a record that has stood since Victorian Olympic sprinter Gary Eddy set the mark in 1966.

The ace sprinter said it was nice to have a “9” alongside his list of achievements.

“It’s great to get that Australian record,” Hale said.

“Running the equivalent of a 10.2s 100m at this time of year, I’m pumped about that.”

Jack Hale in action at the Queensland Track Classic athletics meet in Brisbane Picture AAP/David Clark

Hale’s next target is the 10-second barrier ahead of booking his ticket to Tokyo.

“I’m in the best shape I have been in at this point of my career,” he said.

“Running 10.2 at this time of year is great. It’s really only .08s off my PB.

“It’s going to be a long season so the smart thing for me now is to do all the right races and treat it like an Olympic Games year and not just like a normal Australian year.”

Hale’s next 100m shot is likely to be at the ACT track championships in Canberra early next month.

“It has been postponed for a few weeks so that gives me time to get some more quality training in before that,” Hale said.

In the meantime, it’s back to his training base at Essendon.