Stewart McSweyn, a former Eureka club member, will race in the 1500 metre final at Tokyo on Saturday at 9.40pm after a brilliant run on Thursday night.

Current club member Kathryn Mitchell will contest her third Olympic javelin final on Friday at 9.50pm.

Eureka Athletics Club secretary and coach Rod Griffin said the club's junior athletes were buzzing with excitement over McSweyn and Mitchell's performances.

"It's not only good for the club, it's good for Ballarat athletics. It says what we are doing in Ballarat as a centre and it's paying off in these performances because you have to keep in mind there has been Jared Tallent recently and Sam Rizzo in the paras.

"I think what it does is it inspires kids to just do athletics. It doesn't matter what club they do it with. We just want to get them in the sport."

Twice a week, Griffin coaches a group of junior middle distance runners on the same Buninyong track he trained McSweyn on more than a decade ago.

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Griffin said a number of Olympic athletes had trained on the De Soza Park track, including Collis Birmingham and Victoria Mitchell.

"It's a path that is a bit underrated as a lot of Ballarat Olympians have trained on it," he said. Griffin said McSweyn, who moved from King Island to attend Ballarat Clarendon College, still acknowledged his former athletics club.

"A lot of juniors I coach have met Stewie and he has been fantastic to them when he sees them at meets in Melbourne, he always has a chat with them," Griffin said.

He said Mitchell became an Eureka Athletics Club member about 1997 or 1998 after she tagged along with her friend Emily Rhook - who Griffin was coaching at the time.

The close friends were from Casterton and Griffin remembers Mitchell participating in the long jump and sprints, before she was asked to try the javelin. "She has been with the club ever since and has been a fantastic member of the club," Griffin said.

"She's just been wonderful. She did the country championships this year. She has never forgotten her country roots.

"She's just a wonderful athlete and it's incredibly hard on her body too. To be around for so long is an incredible testament to her dedication."

Griffin said Eureka Athletics Club members would be glued to the television watching McSweyn and Mitchell.

"We are so excited about it and our fingers are well and truly crossed for the both of them," he said.

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