Australia's marathon pace-setter Andy Buchanan admits he's no longer "the guy from Bendigo that does a bit of running" after shattering the national mark in Spain.
The Paris Olympian made history as the first Australian to beat the two hour, seven minute barrier with his record-breaking run of 2:06:22 at the Valencia Marathon.
Finishing 16th, he lowered Brett Robinson's mark by more than one minute (2:07:31), a 2022 effort at the same Valencia race that ended Robert de Castella's 36-year hold on the record.
Isobel Batt-Doyle (2:22:59) soared to third on the Australian all-time list, shaving 28 seconds off her personal best to finish eighth and jump ahead of fellow Olympians Genevieve Gregson and Lisa Weightman.
Only Sinead Diver (2:21.34, Valencia, 2022) and Benita Willis-Johnson (2:22.36, Chicago, 2006) have run faster.
Both Buchanan and Batt-Doyle qualified for next September's world athletics championships in Tokyo.
Batt-Doyle's qualification is particularly sweet after being one of three Australian women not selected to run the Olympics marathon from the six who ran the Paris qualification time.
Similarly, 33-year-old Buchanan was a reserve for the Paris Olympics but was a late call-up for the injured Robinson.
"Brett and Sinead were the trend-setters," Buchanan said.
"They were the first ones to make those big jumps and we're just following in their footsteps.
"Brett showed that I could do it and, credit to them, they worked at it for so long, and now we all feel like we can do it too because they did.
"The floodgates are definitely open. I will definitely enjoy this record for as long as I have it, but it's going to take me a little bit to process it.
"I still consider myself to be the guy from Bendigo that does a bit of running."
Averaging 2:59 minutes per kilometre, Buchanan battled fatigue as he tried to do the maths when the prospect of the record and the 2:06:30 world titles qualification mark became a possibility.
"I feel like I've really transformed as an athlete this year," he said.
"I felt confident I could go around the 2:07:15 mark, and I kind of had this thought where the record would have been a bonus after such an awesome year, so if I go for it and blow up, I'd still look back on the year and be really happy with it.''
