Aidan Murphy sets season's best at the Adelaide Invitational

Adelaide University student, Elite Sport Program member, and Australian track and field athlete Aidan Murphy set a season's best in the 200 metres in front of family and friends at the Adelaide Invitational on Saturday 14 March in Adelaide.

Running a stellar 20.43 seconds in the Men's 200 Metres final against the wind, Aidan beat out top-ranked 400m Australian sprinter Reece Holder (2nd place, 20.62 seconds), top-ranked 200m New Zealand sprinter Tommy Te Puni (3rd place, 20.68 seconds), and top-ranked 400m United States sprinter Jacory Patterson (4th place, 20.84 seconds). The win pushes Murphy into 2nd place on the Australian 200m rankings.

"I love racing here in Adelaide," says Murphy. "I obviously had my family and friends out to support, and having a win against a world class field with someone like Reece Holder who's our best 400 metre athlete at the moment in the country, and Jacory Patterson who's the U.S. national 400 metre champ - it always means a lot, and it is a big confidence boost."

The SA Athletics Stadium at Mile End was packed with locals, including many aspiring young sprinters who represent the next wave of elite Australian talent.

"To have a lot of the young athletes come out to watch the race meant a lot to me, because it means I can inspire a lot of the future superstars of the state to get in early and start investing in the sport, which I think is really important."

Aidan continues his meteoric rise, having represented Australia in 2025 at both the World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany and the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.

His next goal? Putting on the Australian uniform for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland from 23 July to 2 August.

"I think Australia can be an absolute powerhouse in the athletics space," believes Murphy. "There's no reason why, if America and Jamaica are up there, Australia can't also get up there. I think the recent emergence of someone like Gout Gout proves that we can be a very strong country going into these international races."

Check out the video of Aidan competing at the Adelaide Invitational and part one of our extensive interview, with thanks to Australian Athletics for use of their broadcast footage.

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