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John Salvado

Peter Bol added to field for John Landy Mile

Peter Bol will contest the John Landy Mile in February. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS)

Tokyo Olympics 800m finalist Peter Bol has been added to a stacked men's mile field for the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne in mid-February.

The 29-year-old is targeting his favoured 800m event for the Paris Olympics, but has chosen to contest the longer event at Lakeside Stadium.

The loaded mile field also includes former 1500m world champ Jake Wightman from Britain, Kenyan Eliud Kipsang, and fellow Australians Stewart McSweyn, Cameron Myers and Jye Edwards.

"I'm pretty pumped about the John Landy Mile at the Maurie Plant Meet," Bol said in a statement.

"I've got to be honest, taking on Stewy, Jake, Cam, Jye and others over the mile distance makes me a bit nervous.

"But in a good way, the thought of the distance has me focused on being strong."

Bol has not raced in Australia since his provisional doping ban for an elevated level of EPO was lifted in February last year, after his reading was found to be atypical.

A Sport Integrity Australia investigation was wound up in July, with Bol saying it was "a dream come true", having continued to vehemently declare his innocence.

Peter Bol (right)
Peter Bol (right) gets into his stride during the 800m final at the Tokyo Olympics. (Joe Giddens/AAP PHOTOS)

He was then eliminated in the 800m heats at the world championships in Budapest in August.

Bol made his Olympic debut in 2016 and shot to prominence at the Tokyo Games, where he twice broke the national 800m record and finished fourth in the final, the best result by an Australian in the event in 53 years.

In other track and field news, Patrick Tiernan has smashed the Paris Olympics marathon qualifier in Houston and moved past the likes of greats Robert de Castella and Steve Moneghetti into second spot on the Australian all-time list.

Tiernan crossed the finish line in fourth spot in two hours, seven minutes and 45 seconds.

"I felt I was capable of sub-2:08 from a fitness standpoint, but it was just a matter of how my legs would hold up over the last 10km," Tiernan said.

"My first marathon I was not prepared for that part of the race and it showed, so today was about managing the hurt in my legs and being able to work through it."

The only Australian to have run a faster marathon is national record-holder Brett Robinson.

Patrick Tiernan
Patrick Tiernan learnt plenty from his experience at the Tokyo Olympics. (Martin Rickett/AAP PHOTOS)

"I want to compete in Paris," said Tiernan, who collapsed to the track 50 metres from the finish line in the 10,000m final at the Tokyo Olympics, but still managed to pick himself up and finish the race.

"I've had two results at the last two Olympics that were not what I had hoped to achieve ... Tokyo was a really big learning curve for me.

"It was hard to get as close as I did to the result I'd been chasing and have it come crashing down, but looking back on it there were a lot of things I could take away." 

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