Aidan Murphy is refusing to put a ceiling on what he and his red-hot Australian sprint teammates can achieve in 2026 and beyond after completing a rare 200m-400m double at the Oceania championships in Darwin.
Murphy, 22, powered to victory in the 200m final on Friday in 20.05 seconds - his second-fastest ever time for the half-lap race.
It came only two days after he gave the 38-year-old Australian record an almighty scare in the 400m final.
"We're always going to be under a lot of pressure here in Australia, but I just want to show now that we can perform under pressure," said Murphy.
"We're only at the start of a really long road to (200m) international dominance. I think we can seriously make some finals.
"(The 2027 world championships in) Beijing will be massive, we'll definitely get some scalps there.
"Gout, myself and potentially even Calab (Law) will do some damage."
Murphy has enjoyed a breakout couple of months, starting with the 200m final at the national championships in Sydney in April when he flew home for second behind Gout Gout as both men obliterated the national record.
"I've just had my head down for the last two years, working away in silence," said the son of two-time 1998 Commonwealth Games sprint gold medallist Tania Van Heer.
"I'm just happy to be here right now, it's all paying off.
"I don't see a ceiling for a time for myself this year.
"I think we can keep the ball rolling and I do want to win at Comm. Games so this will be the start of something big to come."
Countryman Christopher Ius was second in 20.68 and Tommy de Puni from New Zealand took the bronze in 20.84.
In-form middle-distance runner Luke Boyes made light of a quad injury sustained early in the 800m final to win in one minute 46.83 seconds.
Boyes skipped the medal presentation to seek immediate physiotherapy treatment, but was confident he had not done any serious damage with the Commonwealth Games just two months away.
"I did it in the first step off the start, I twinged the quad and then I was hoping I could run through and it would loosen up throughout the race but it didn't," said Boyes, who had smashed his personal best just five days ago at the Shanghai Diamond League meet.
"By the time it started to get a bit sore again there was only 300 metres to go and I thought I'd try and finish the race off.
"It's still a successful run - not quite what I was hoping for but I'll still take it."
Countryman Degras Amekata was a distant second in 1:49.94.
National record holder Brooke Buschkuehl recorded a season's best of 6.70m to win the tightest of women's long jump finals from fellow Australian and 2024 world junior champion Delta Amidzovski (6.69m).
It was an important victory for the 32-year-old Buschkuehl who has returned to the sport after the birth of her son Bobby in June last year.
Aiden Hinson successfully defended his Oceania men's triple jump crown with his best leap of 16.25m coming in the opening round.
Awen Akuen (16.18m) and Shemaiah James (15.96m) rounded out an Australian clean sweep.
