Aussie sprinter Riley Day just missed out on qualifying for the women’s 200m Olympic final this week, but she’s still won the hearts of many for her outstanding run and brilliant post-race interview. Plugging your Instagram handle on national TV wins gold in my eyes, I tell ya what.
Riley, who is 21, ran from lane 8 and absolutely stunned viewers as she came in fourth place with a personal best of 22.56. That is very, very, very fast.
“Holy shit,” Riley told Seven afterwards.
“That was a much better race than this morning. I’ve got my groove. Now I hope it’s the fastest heat so I can get in the final. Because that is a massive PB. That’s awesome.
“I want to be the best and nothing is going to stop me from being the best.”
Seven’s Jason Richardson then took the opportunity to question why Riley had attracted no “corporate support” at the Tokyo Games.
“I’m going to embarrass you, we want Australia to start supporting you. You’re working at Woolies in the produce section. I know you do the shopping for John who’s 90 and he can’t see, and you do that every week. You’ve got a big heart, you don’t have a sponsor.
“C’mon Australia, get behind this young lady!”
In response, Day dropped her Instagram handle for anyone keen to follow her.
“I mean, if you do want to follow my journey. My Instagram is @_rileyday. That’s where I post most of my stuff, so if you wanna follow along, that’s where it is,” she said.
And BAM, the followers came.
The power of TV. Riley Day just plugged her Instagram account after her amazing run in the 200m semi final. She had 22.5k followers on Insta, 2 minutes after plugging her account she is now at 37.8k followers and growing every 5 seconds 👏👏🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/2aPpgrFr7w
— brad davidson (@braddavo) August 2, 2021
At the time of writing, Riley is up to almost 70,000 followers and counting. It’s unclear if any corporate sponsors have slid into her DMs, but I’m sure they will soon if they haven’t already.
And while she unfortunately missed out on the final of the 200-metre sprint, I think it’s safe to say Riley’s still an absolute winner.
We’ll definitely be seeing more of Riley Day.
