SCOTT WESTCOTT simply says "she's matured, she's done her apprenticeship and she's a tough competitor now".
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The Newcastle-based coach has praised the Olympic-qualifier performance of star student Rose Davies amid a new phase of her athletics career.
While not yet officially selected for this year's Games in Paris, Westcott says Merewether runner Davies has now "ticked all the boxes" after landing inside the entry standard with a personal-best time of 14 minutes, 47.86 seconds.
The 24-year-old has improved markedly in the women's 5000 metres, now her sole focus having opted against a dual 10,000m campaign, improving by almost 60s since 2019, over 20s since her Olympic debut in Tokyo in 2021 and knocking 10s off her maiden sub-15 breakthrough two months ago.
Davies was racing the clock at a Diamond League event in China over the weekend, eyeing off 14:52 flat fresh from a national title in Adelaide on April 14.
Westcott says she was "pretty determined to do the job" in Suzhou.
"Last year [2023] was a breakthrough year," Westcott told the Newcastle Herald.
"She learned how to compete in international races. She was two seconds off making a World Championships final and basically ran a PB [personal best] in the highest pressure race of the year.
"She's matured, she's done her apprenticeship and she's a tough competitor now.
"She's got this desire to be better. She knew she had to become better at being consistent and she knew she had to become better at finishing races.
"That's her professionalism coming out.
"I guess she's been pacing herself, wanting to be competitive throughout the rest of this season culminating in the Olympics and holding her head high there with a performance she can look back on and be proud of."
Davies is now the third fastest Aussie woman ever over the 5000m distance, going past Eloise Wellings.
Westcott says she likely next appears at the Golden Grand Prix in Tokyo on May 19.
Meanwhile, Whitebridge 400m runner Jemma Pollard has landed in Miami for a training camp ahead of this weekend's World Athletics Relays in the Bahamas. Macquarie Hunter Athletics Club graduate Torrie Lewis anchors the Aussie women's 4x100m team.