For the first time in her career, Ngāruahine Māori sprinter Zoe Hobbs has broken the 11-second barrier but it will not be recorded due to an illegal tailwind at the 2023 Jennian Homes New Zealand Track & Field Championships.
Hobbs is the fastest wahine (woman) to come from Aotearoa. She twice-equalled, then beat Michelle Seymour's original record of 11.32s down to 11:17s before the event last week.
On March 5th, Hobbs won the final of the 100m, clocking a sensational 10.89s (+3.4).
In the preliminaries, Hobbs had already broken her own New Zealand 100m record and Oceania record achieving an 11:07s (+1.8) in legal conditions, shaving 0.01s off her previous national mark, set at last year's world athletics championships in Oregon.
Watch Zoe's incredible 10:89s below.
Despite returning from a back injury Her efforts have yielded an automatic entry standard time for the 2023 World Athletics Championship in Budapest.
It was a clinical display of dominance from the 25-year-old Taranaki-raised, Auckland-based sprinter who was fresh in her first competition for the season.
"I was a little surprised coming back from injury as I had a little interruption, so I didn't expect to open the season that well, but there have been indicators in training," Hobbs said.
"It was just a matter of putting it together in a race, to actually go out and run so well was awesome. My goal was just to flow through the race, be nice and relaxed, and finish in one piece.
"I think flowing it like that gave me confidence and showed me I was capable of that time, then I just wanted to come out and blast it as much as possible."
Behind Hobbs, Rosie Elliott (Canterbury) recorded 11.36 for silver with Veronica Shanti Periera of Singapore in 11.44 crossing the line in third.
"Now I've done it with the wind, I've got to do it legally." Hobbs said of breaking the 11-second mark.
