When Peter Bol ran a 1:45 and finished fourth at an empty National Stadium in Tokyo four years ago, it was cause for an Australia-wide celebration.
When the same thing happened in front of 50,000 screaming fans on Tuesday night, the crowd was infinitely louder but there were no such celebrations from the Aussie contingent.
Since his breakout run in the 800m final of the 2021 Olympics — when he missed a medal by just 0.53 of a second — Bol has endured a doping nightmare, set multiple national records, been to another Olympic Games and run in two more world championships.
And all the while he has become an elder statesman in an exciting new era of Australian track and field, and with it, expectations have shifted dramatically.
Bol’s 1:45.15 in his 800m heat at the World Athletics Championships would have been good enough for Olympic silver at the same venue in 2021.
There was no crowd to watch Peter Bol’s fourth-placed finish in the 800m at the COVID-affected Tokyo Games. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
His Australian record of 1:42.55, set just last month, or even his previous nation-best mark of 1:43.79 from the national championships in April would have made him the fastest qualifier for the semis.
Instead, he was 19th fastest in the field, knocked out despite running faster than six of the automatic qualifiers who finished top three in their heats.
“Disappointed in the result but happy to be here in Tokyo running for Australia against the best in the world,” he said.
Hull wins first world champs medal, Bol out in 800m heats
The 31-year-old sat second when the bell rung, just off the shoulder of American Bryce Hoppel, but got boxed in by Ireland’s Cian McPhillips.
He tried to kick in the final 100 metres but, with 40 to go, the fatigue caught up and he was pipped on the line by Jamaican Tyrice Taylor.
Bol missed automatic qualification by 0.02 of a second in another admirable outing on the world stage. However, that is no longer the benchmark for Australian athletics.
The powerful final 100 metres is par for the course on the world stage and any mistake will cost you, but Bol says that is becoming the case back home as well, with the elite talent coming through the Australian ranks a double-edged sword.
Peter Bol is disappointed to miss out on a spot in the 800m semis after a phenomenal season. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
“One, it’s pretty exciting; we’ve got pretty good competition coming on. And two, pretty scary; because you might not be on the team,” he said.
“If you make this mistake in Australia, you’ll probably lose as well, so that’s the scary part of it. The teams are getting pretty tight.
“That’s the two elements: scary and exciting at the same time.”
One of those scarily exciting prospects is, of course, Gout Gout.
The 17-year-old runs for his country in a senior meet for the first time in the 200m heats on Wednesday night, with a mountain of expectation on his shoulders.
How to watch Gout at the world champs
So much hype has been built up ahead of the national record holder’s world championships debut, but his 20.02 is the 16th-fastest time this year.
Bol is an 31-year-old experienced campaigner and had 2025’s ninth-fastest time in a race with more margin for error, and he still missed out.
It is important, but perhaps impossible, to temper expectations for Gout, who will take two weeks off after Tokyo before settling back in to study for his year 12 exams next month.
The Queenslander will still only be 25 years old when his home Olympics rolls around in 2032.
Between now and then are next year’s Glasgow Commonwealth Games, the 2028 Games in Los Angeles and three more world championships.
In one of the fastest races, progress is slow, with hundredths of a second chipped away over years of toil.
Regardless of what happens for the rest of the current championships in Tokyo, Bol said Gout, women’s national record holder Torrie Lewis and a slew of other stars in Australia’s biggest-ever track-and-field team might only be “in peak shape in Brisbane”.
“We’ve got 86 people in the team. That’s incredible,” he said.
“I got to camp and there were so many people I didn’t even know. What a team.
“That team’s going to continue to grow, not just in numbers but from performances.
“You’ll have a few people go from here super disappointed, but my first championship was Rio [2016 Olympics] and I was hella disappointed, and four years later I was fourth. So they’re just going to have to learn from this.”
And if anyone knows how big a difference four years can make, it is Bol.