Tara Murray
A couple of years ago, Chris Mitrevski was struggling with the yips and he had no idea how his long jump events would go.
Fast forward to July 2024 and the Keilor Downs resident will be donning the green and gold at the Olympics.
A stunning jump at the Australian Championships in April gave him automatic selection for the Olympics.
“When I officially qualified there were about 100 days left. I feel like that time has just flown by,” he said.
“I was very confident that I would make this one but I wasn’t really expecting to jump the qualifying time so early, that came as a shock.
“I was more looking at getting in through my world ranking which basically cuts off at the end of June.
“Most of the team has not been selected yet, I was probably waiting until early July to get selected to knock that out early, it was a huge relief and I could just focus on the Olympics rather than choosing the competitions.”
When Mitrevski jumped 8.32 at the Australian Championships it changed his perspective heading into the Olympics.
He became the sixth best Australian ever with that jump and it’s the longest by an Aussie in seven years.
It was a nine second personal best and would have been a good enough jump to win a medal at every Olympics since 1992.
Mitrevski doesn’t just want to go there and finish sixth or just miss out on finals at the Olympics now.
“I’ve always thought I had the 8.32 in me, as you get older,” he said. “PBs are fewer and further between but I thought I could do it.
“I probably just wasn’t thinking it was going to happen that day. So to knock that out, it was awesome.
“You do that at the Olympics you’re every chance to medal, so just changed my thinking from making the Olympics to who knows what can happen now,
“Let’s push for a medal that has definitely changed my focus for sure.
“That’s basically all I’ve been thinking about lately. The sky’s the limit.”
Mitrevski says he’s come a long way from a few years ago when he had the yips and narrowly missed out on the last Olympics.
He said he’s now in a good place as he looks down the track into the pit.
Growing up, Mitrevski started athletics as he loved to race everyone.
Football was his other love. He played with both Taylors Lakes and Keilor.
“I played every sport at school, I loved sports and if there was a chance of playing school sports with anything, I was doing it,” he said.
“Played footy and athletics pretty much the whole time, loved them both just as much.
“I probably wasn’t too good at footy. I was good for one effort and that’s it, probably why I’m good at athletics.
“I figured out I was quick and could jump, put those to together and made for a good long jumper.”
