Reigning Ballarat sportswoman of the year Kathryn Mitchell is poised to compete in her third World Athletic Championships.
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The 34-year-old javelin thrower landed a qualifier of 63.23m at a Golden Grand Prix meet in Kawasaki, Japan, to all but secure selection for London in August.
Selection would make her the oldest Australian female to ever compete in a World Athletic Championships.
“I am enjoying the best years of my career, albeit a decade late,” Mitchell told Athletics Australia.
“I still believe in achieving big things so while I can...I hope I can inspire persistence for younger athletes who may think things will turn out just as they imagine.
“Age is just a number,” she said.
Mitchell is well acquainted with competing at the highest level in London.
She competed in her first Olympics in London in 2012, finishing ninth.
Mitchell followed up with a sixth in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
While the latest throw should be enough to secure her selection, Mitchell said she still had a lot of work to do.
“It was great to get the qualification mark out of the way, but I'm actually not in that great shape at the moment.”
She does not believe 63m will be good enough to guarantee a good place in the top meetings.
“I would like to step up a level this year.”
Mitchell has been training in China and will this weekend compete in a Diamond League meet in Eugene in the United States before basing herself in Germany for the European season.
