JUST centimetres separates Kathryn Mitchell from a third Olympic Games after the Ballarat javelin Commonwealth Games gold medallist scored a big win at the Australian Athletics Championships.
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Mitchell's throw on Saturday night in Sydney of 63.34 metres left her just 66cm off achieving a an Olympic A qualifying distance of 64 metres.
In doing so, Mitchell defeated world champion Kelsey-Lee Barber who threw 61.09 metres.
Speaking with Athletics Australia after her event, Mitchell said while she would have liked to tick-off the 64 metres distance, she knew she had improvement in her.
"It would have been great to tick that box and have it done now but I'm actually really excited for the next block of training over the next six weeks leading into the next round of competition," she said. "There are a few really key areas we still need to work on and fix.
"I'm not feeling stressed about not getting it. It's just time and training. I'm pretty much healthy for an old girl, but my body's actually pulled up pretty good so that's a big tick. I can now go and do the training that I need to do and want to do.
"The last two years have been fairly challenging for me so it's just great for me to be feeling a little bit like my old self again and getting back on the track and starting to get some distances out."
The 38-year-old won despite not seeing her coach and partner, former men's world record holder Uwe Hohn, for the past 18 months.
Tearing up when asked about his absence, Mitchell thanked her team for helping out for the past two years.
"That's been really challenging but I've been fortunate to have a great team around me when it was hard to keep going myself. Obviously I can't wait to be back with Uwe again.
