After a blistering start to her season, Zoe Hobbs has already booked herself a spot at the Athletics World Championships later this year in Budapest.
But there's another bonus – time.
With the Paris Olympics looming, breaking the elusive sub-11 second barrier as she did last week at national track and field championships in Wellington was the perfect boost the sprinter needed.
A week on from running 10.89 seconds, New Zealand's fastest woman told 1News she is still buzzing.
“I heard my time and I couldn't believe what it was,” Hobbs said.
“That wasn't part of the plan, to run sub-11 first race back, so it was pretty incredible and we were sort of in disbelief but what a way to start the season!”
Hobbs was late to the domestic season party due to a leg injury although it clearly didn’t slow her down last week.
One small snag from the race though; her time doesn't legally count for records or qualifications due to a tail wind, which must be under two metres per second.
Windy Wellington, surprise surprise, was measuring 3.4mps for her race.
“I knew the wind before the time came out but I will take a sub-11 in any wind,” she said.
“It doesn't matter what the wind is. It could have been a 20-metre tail wind and I’ll still take running a sub-11.”
In her heat, she ran 11.07s for a new Oceania and National record which also allowed her to qualify for August's world champs.
“It was 11:07 and the qualifier I had to do was 11:08 so I got it by 0.01 of a second but 0.01 in the hundred is everything.
“We're talking small increments in the 100-metre.”
Minuscule numbers but massive gains, with the pressure now off as she doesn't need to chase qualifying times overseas.
In the meantime though, an official sub-11 second run is next on her radar with such a run qualifying her for next year’s Olympics.
The Olympic qualifying window opens on July 1.
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