Zoe Hobbs (Ngāruahine) has dominated the women’s 100m at the Spitzen Leichtathletik athletics meet in Lucerne, Switzerland on Wednesday (NZT).
In her final stop before the Paris Olympics, the 26-year-old recorded the fastest time of the evening at the World Athletics Continental Tour silver-level series event, clocking 11.17 seconds in one of two finals for the women’s sprint event.
“Despite being put in the B heat for last night’s race managed to take the W for the fastest time of the night. And the diamond,” Hobbs shared on her Instagram stories.
Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundji was second fastest at the meet in 11.20 seconds, with Jamaica’s Kemba Nelson third quickest from Germany’s Gina Lückenkemper, both with identical 11.21 second times.
Three-time Olympic champion, Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, 36, was due to compete but withdrew after she “felt something” during pre-race warm-ups, an Olympics.com report said.
Watch Zoe Hobbs in action in Lucerne on the European Athletics YouTube channel at 59:24.
Last week, Hobbs set an international season-best time of 11.15 seconds in Monaco, shaving 0.02 seconds off her previous best time of 11.17 seconds recorded last month in Poland and in May in Japan. In March, she won her eighth straight NZ national title in 11.13 seconds.
Her Wednesday outing was the culmination of three back-to-back race meets across the past week as Hobbs picked up the pace heading into her Olympic debut.
New Zealand’s fastest-ever woman has a career-best time of 10.96 seconds set a year ago at La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland.
Before heading overseas, Hobbs told Stuff she is feeling comfortable with her Paris Olympic build-up, despite not having pushed this mark.
“Though I haven’t run sub-11 yet, it’s not what the team are expecting based on where we are in terms of phasing of training.
“If they’re not concerned, I’m not concerned behind the rhythm and phasing and whatnot. I have full trust they have me exactly where I need to be right now.”
The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games is on Saturday, 27 July (NZT), with Hobbs in action in the women’s 100m heats on August 2, with an eye to the semifinals and final the following day.