Thus, he undercut the Australian compatriot Matthew Ramsden's world year best from Milan in September, when he ran 3.51.23.

It is also the fastest time recorded in Australia in the distance.

The race on Tuesday took place in a small rural arena in a summery Penguin in Tasmania near the home in King Island.

He had hare up to 800 meters, 1.52, and then ran solo and won by 19 seconds. 

- I felt charged.

I'm a Tasmanian.

The northwest coast is where I grew up so I wanted to come here and run and I'm glad I was able to do it this year, says McSweyn, according to the International Athletics Federation.

Compete in Sweden this summer

McSweyn, who competed in Stockholm and Gothenburg this summer, ran in front of an audience that did not keep a distance at all and where no one on available videos used mouth guards.

After touring Europe, McSweyn returned to Australia in late October after a two-week wait in London and was quarantined for two weeks in Brisbane, a time spent studying at university.

McSweyn has made a breakthrough this year and has the Tokyo Olympics as his big goal next season.

- I ran the best when the Olympics would have been decided and will hopefully do it again in 2021, says McSweyn who runs everything from 1500 to 10000 meters with great success.

The main focus is on 1500 meters where he recorded 3.30.51 and was fifth in the world last season.

Javascript is disabled

Javascript must be turned on to play video

Read more about browser support

The browser is not supported

SVT does not support playback in your browser.

We therefore recommend that you switch to another browser.

Read more about browser support

The winner Stewart McSweyn (left), Australia, and Sweden's Suldan Hassan after the men's 5000 meters.

Photo: TT