THREE months ago all the signs were that it was going to happen for race walker Laura Langley in Rome - but it didn't.
Instead, Langley smashed her personal best 50-minute mark over 10km last Sunday at the Harry Kerr 5 x 10,000m after settling for 52:53 at the IAAF World Race Walking Team Championship in Rome in May.
In doing so the 18-year-old from Napier, who Graeme Jones coaches, smashed the New Zealand women's under-20 and under-19 records at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland.
Langley, who had a personal best of 51:54 before that, clocked 49m 22.7s to eclipse the U20 record Courtney Ruske, of Canterbury, held for two years.
Her under-19 national record was in the hands of someone who was much closer to home, Amanda Gorst, 29, who left the region as a teenager with race-walking Masters mother Gabrielle Gorst, a former NZ Masters champion, and father Tony several years ago.