Calab Law ended his brief maiden Olympic campaign by sharing in an extraordinary Australian record on the track.
Part of Australia's 4x100-metre men's relay team, Law ran the third leg on the bend on Thursday, the Australian team finishing in a fast time of just 38.12 seconds.
But the new national mark that would have won Law, Lachlan Kennedy, Jacob Despard and Josh Azzopardi the other heat and finals qualification earned them sixth place, after drawing the quicker relay that also involved the Americans.
Law's splits, that do not count when teammates are touching the baton at the same time was only 9.31 seconds.
Australia's leading Indigenous sprinter said the mark he left following his final departure from Paris "fills me with heaps of confidence that I was able to be at my best for the team".
Law's individual best 100m this past season without the baton was 10.40 seconds.
He ran superbly at the World Relay Championships in Bahamas leading up to the 2024 Games to give Australia's track officials confidence, after Rohan Browning, Australia's second fastest 100m recorded sprinter, missed selection after reportedly recovering from a knee injury.
The top three teams in Paris from the heats, plus the next two best times went on to qualify.
Despite the fleeting time, Australia unbelievably still finished sixth behind the US (37.47), South Africa (37.94), Great Britain (38.04), Japan (38.06), and Italy (38.07) to miss out by five-hundredths of a second while still in front of Nigeria (38.20) and Netherlands (38.48).
China claimed victory in the other heat with just a time of 38.24 ahead of qualifiers France (38.34) and Canada (38.39), while Jamaica (38.45), Germany (38.53), Brazil (38.73), Liberia (38.97), and Ghana, who was disqualified, also missed out.
Law would have felt disappointed, almost betrayed, to appear just two times on the Stade de France track.
The Wakka Wakka man sacrificed his own personal motivation and goals for the Australian relay team's benefit after being told in the lead-up that he would join Kennedy, Despard and Azzopardi ahead of other highly-regarded sprinters.
Law crossed the line the previous day in his 200 metres heat seventh with the rookie failing to qualify automatically for the next round of heats.
The Sunshine Coast resident started well and kept this shape initially, but as his experienced rivals pushed into the straight, Law struggled to keep pace and fell out of the top four.
"I started well with some descent speed," Law told National Indigenous Times.
"Unfortunately I had a hamstring niggle in the lead-up to the race, which prevented me from being able to relax in the race.
"But at the end of the day, I got through the race and was happy I got to experience running a 200m at the Olympics."
Law dominated the Pacific Games in the 2023 Solomon Islands and the 2024 Oceania championships in Fiji, capturing gold in the 200m in both races to become the new Australian champion and to also book his ticket for Paris.
This year for the first-time ever in Olympics history, runners got a second chance to attempt to qualify in a repechage race.
But the rising 20-year-old declined to run the 200m a second time when it was offered in a disturbing trend during the Olympic track events.
"Although the hamstring injury was just a niggle, I decided not to run the repechage because I wanted to be able to give 100 per cent in the relay," Law said.
"I initially wanted to run the repechage because I knew I had more to give, but at the end of the day I also didn't want to let my team mates down.
"They have come all this way, some just to run the relay and I think it would be selfish of me to put my own aspirations ahead of the teams.
"I felt really confident, I knew the track is fast."
