When Eddie Osei-Nketia crossed the line after his 100m heat at the World Athletics Championships on Saturday he was grinning from ear to ear - and that was before he realised he'd set a new New Zealand record.
The 21-year-old set a time of 10.08s in the final heat of the day to beat the previous best of 10.11s set in 1994 - a time set by his father Gus at the 1994 Commonwealth Games.
"It's such a beautiful feeling to keep it in the family," Osei-Nketia told 1News.
"I never thought I'd achieve it in my life... it felt like a dream."
Despite the historic moment for both his family and New Zealand athletics, Osei-Nketia said it actually took him a moment to realise what he'd done as he'd been so focused on delivering a qualifying time in his heat.
"At first, I just reacted that I was in the semi-finals because that was my goal," he said.
"But me getting that record, I was like, 'I did it! I got the record. I finally got the record!"
Osei-Nketia said the topic of him beating his father's record had been something that was brought up on countless occasions during his sprinting career, including some banter from the former record holder himself.
The most important message of congratulations came from his dad - along with more banter.
"My dad was actually surprisingly proud," he said.
"I thought that he would be heartbroken, sad and angry because he expected that record was going to be there forever but for his son to take it, it was good but it was bad at the same time!"
It puts Osei-Nketia in good stead for his semi-final on Sunday at 1pm NZT - one of the last races he has to worry about for some time with the Commonwealth Games coming up and him not attending.
Osei-Nketia said his absence in Birmingham was due to commitments to his studies but he's already setting himself his next goal.
"Maybe I can go under 10 but I'm not putting any pressure on myself," he said.
"But this is my time to shine."
SHARE ME