Starc Reality of Olympics for Brandon

History may have been unfolding around him, but there was no bigger moment in the emerging athletics career NSWIS high jumper Brandon Starc.

The 22-year-old Sydney-sider has leaped into the Olympic final with a towering jump of 2.29m to lock in a place in the medal round.

The young Australian showed incredible resolve in his debut Olympics to maintain his focus as the Stadium locked eyes on its biggest star.

As Starc was chasing his own Olympic dream, track megastar Usain Bolt was inking his name into sports history with a third gold medal in the 100m sprint.

South African Wayde Van Niekerk also smashed Michael Johnson’s 400m world record which had stood for 17 years.

“I didn’t realise the world record for the 400m was broken,” Starc told the AOC website.

“I realised there was a lot of noise, then the 100m as well, it was a big night and I’m glad I was a part of it.

“They all ran past us, all the photographers were then in our way, but it was great to watch.”

Starc’s 2.29m to qualify was just short of his personal best of 2.31m at last year’s world championships.

He is eyeing off Tim Forsyth’s Australian record of 2.36m.

“Anything can happen in the final. It should be interesting. I think I’m in good shape to jump well, I’m hopefully better than last year,” he said.

“I think I’ve matured and grown as an athlete since then, so I’ll go back, recover and come back in two days’ time.”

On an eventful night at the track, Anneliese Rubie and Jenny Blundell both competed in Olympic semi-finals for the first time.

Rubie finished sixth in a 400m race that included Shaunae Miller from the Bahamas and Olympic legend Allyson Felix of the USA, running 51.96.

“I’m kind of happy with it, kind of disappointed with it,” Rubie said.

“I’m happy that I got out there and gave it my all. I’m happy with how I ran, just unhappy it wasn’t a little bit quicker.”

She will now feature as part of Australia’s 4 x 400m relay team.

Blundell finished 11th^th in the second semi-final of the 1500m in a time of 4:13.25.