She was forced to be patient, but Sarah Carli has now gained her ticket to the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
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The Wollongong athlete on Tuesday morning was one of 53 track and field athletes added to the Australian athletics team for the 2022 Games, which begin in late July. The squad now features 69 able-bodied athletes and 16 Para athletes.
The selection means Carli will make her long-awaited Comm Games debut, about 10 months after she competed at her first Olympics. The 27-year-old, who came back from a serious gym accident which cut her carotid artery earlier that year, gained a fifth place in her heat for the 400-metre hurdles in Tokyo.
Carli will now join fellow Illawarra athlete Jessica Hull at the Commonwealth Games, who was named in Australia's initial athletics squad in May.
Commonwealth Games Australia Team Chef de Mission Petra Thomas said the exciting group of additional athletes were ready to be "bold in gold" in Birmingham.
"Today's selections are a wonderful mixture of defending gold medal champions, experienced campaigners, and the next generation who are ready to establish themselves on the world stage," Thomas said.
"Australia has enjoyed a tremendous legacy in athletics at the Commonwealth Games, and I know the team members selected today are ready to add their names to that storied history."
Athletics Australia chief executive Peter Bromley agreed, saying the "entire country" will be watching and cheering on the squad.
"It's a huge honour to represent Australia, especially at the Commonwealth Games as the only opportunity our athletes have to compete in an integrated team," he said.
"This team is an incredibly strong one, and we look forward to seeing how they fare against the best in the Commonwealth after topping the medal tally at home on the Gold Coast four years ago."
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