Queenslanders Montanna McAvoy and Brielle Erbacher have qualified for the final of the 3000m steeplechase on July 13.

Both athletes posted personal bests time as McAvoy, who finished second, broke the 10-minute barrier for the first time in her heat with a 9:59.67 while Erbacher finished fourth in her heat and had to wait to see if she qualified for the final but her time of 10:09.43 secured the final non-automatic qualifying time.

McAvoy consolidates here position at number four on the Australian U20 all-time list as she became just the 13th Australian to break 10 minutes.

“With 800m to go I was feeling the legs but I knew I needed top 3 so I had to push right to the end,” she told Athletics Australia.

“To be in a final I am stoked. That was my goal. In the final I am going to give it everything to do another PB,” she said.

Jemima Russell made her international debut in the 800m heats. She sat in the middle of the pack but as the tempo lifted in the last lap she finished fourth in the automatic qualifying spot. 

Carley Thomas, who won the Australian Trials, showed she is in great form finishing second in heat two with a time of 2:08.57.

“I just wanted to go out and get through it and not run a race that was too crazy,” Thomas said. 

“It was awesome so I’m happy,” she said.

The semi-finals will be run early tomorrow morning AEST with both aiming for the final on July 12 and they will both also run the 4x400m relay.

Javelin throwers Lara Ilievski and Alexandra Roberts have missed out qualifying for the final with tough conditions seeing only one athlete achieve the automatic standard of 53.50m.

Roberts, who finished 22nd overall, had a shaky start in group A of qualification with a 39.84m but continued to improve with 42.48m and 45.04m.

Meanwhile, Ilievski threw in group B and opened with a foul, then 43.14m and finished with 45.34m to place 21st overall.

Ella Connolly ran a season’s best of 52.99s to win her heat of the 400m and progress to the semi-finals this evening.

“I knew I needed to relax so I had enough energy down the final straight, so the plan was to stay relaxed and get into a rhythm,” Connolly said. 

Injury ruined her chances of qualifying for the Commonwealth Games in April.

Clio Ozanne-Jaques finished 13th in the 5,000m final in 16:46.75, just over 30 seconds off her best.

Lauren Hyde-Cooling cleared her first attempt at 3.65m but couldn’t get over 3.80m with progression to the final requiring a height of 4.10m.

She finished her championships in 27th place.

Talosaga Kia, the youngest on the team, was the last athlete up in the women's events for Australia on day one but unfortunately won’t progress to the final.

The 16-year-old threw 48.44m on her first attempt but could not improve from there as 49.81m became enough to reach the final.