After winning medals of every colour at the Oceania Athletics Championships, Bree Masters now has her hopes pinned on making her first Commonwealth Games team.
Her current international ranking of 43rd has her on track to make the team for the World Championships in Oregon in July, but Commonwealth Games selection is at the discretion of Australian officials with the final track and field team to be named in the next fortnight.
The Bond University sprinter and her 4x100 metre women’s relay team consisting of Ella Connolly, Monique Quirk and Naa Anang collected gold at the Oceania event in MacKay on the weekend, beating New Zealand by more than three seconds (44.06).
Inclement weather proved a challenge for Masters' during her three finals.
In the 100 metres, the 26-year-old picked up silver (11.34) behind Auckland speedster Zoe Hobbs (11.09).
“It was raining and there was a lot of wind, the conditions were kind of tricky, but I did end up running 0.01 off my PB (personal best) so I guess I can’t be unhappy with that,” she said.
“But there was so much that I wish could have been better like I came out of the blocks. and I stumbled a little bit, so maybe it could have been a PB if that didn’t happen.”
She rounded off the championships with bronze in the 200 metres, conceding it was her slowest time of the season (23.45).
But only two years ago, Masters was accustomed to a much softer surface, dominating beach sprints on sand at home and abroad.
“It (Oceania) was my first proper Australian team since coming into athletics, so that was pretty special for me,” said Masters.
“I guess now that makes me a dual Australian representative in two different sports, so it was quite exciting.”
The Bondy has to be inside the top 48 in the international rankings when the points system closes next weekend to book her flight to the USA.
Her hopes of joining the Commonwealth Games team for Birmingham rest in the hands of selectors.
“Because the team is a 68-person quota it’s quite a small team so they obviously put a strong focus on medal chances,’’ she said.
“I believe our relay can medal at the Comm Games if they do choose for us to go. But we’re up against lots of other individuals who could also be a medal chance.”
Like every athlete, her ultimate goal is an Olympics Games berth.
“I remember last year, coming so close to making Tokyo it was really upsetting to be one place out from going but just to think back about how far I’ve come in the last two years,” she said.
“I always looked at the Olympics thing like, that would be so cool to go to.”
“Hopefully Paris 2024 will be it!”
Masters’ Graduated from Bond Uni in February this year with a Bachelor of Communication (Business) with a Major in Marketing & Public Relations.
With more than 41,000 followers on her Instagram account, it wasn’t long before she was offered a PR job with Logan based sportswear brand, LSKD.
Fellow Bond Alumni, Alex Beck also returned from the Oceania meet with a gold medal in the 400 metre men’s final. Like Masters, he is also waiting on a phone call from selectors.