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Valerie Vili smashed through the 20 metre barrier for the first time winning her sixth straight New Zealand shot put title with 20.20m at QEII Stadium Christchurch on Friday.
The 21 year old was ecstatic after round three, sending the ball of steel out to 20.11m. Vili came back in the final round to further extend the New Zealand record to 20.20m.
"I'm happy, over the moon to do 20 metres twice, what better place to do it than Christchurch," said an elated Vili.
"It was always there, and it's pretty much up there to do better than better at the Commonwealth Games," she added.
Vili explained that the plan was to hit 20 metres before the Games.
"It have semi freshened up for this as Melbourne is the focus.
"Now I've got 20 metres, I want to do late 19 metres and early 20 metres consistently and then jump up to 20 and a half and then 21 metres," said Vili.
"I don't want to do just one big leap and then fall back."
Last year world champion Nadezhda Ostapchuk of Belarus led the world rankings with 21.09m with Svetlana Krivelyova of Russia recording 20.24m.
Other athletes, who have already qualified for the Games, and who competed with distinction were, Beatrice Faumuina out to 61.61m in the discus, Stuart Farquhar throwing 77.12m after qualifying for the Games the day before in Canberra with 77.76m, Chantal Brunner clearing 6.42m in the long jump, Angela McKee high jump in 1.86m, Jason Stewart 1m 50.40s 800m, Nick Willis and Paul Hamblyn in the 1500m won by Willis in 3m 50.77s, Craig Barrett and Tony Sargisson in the 20km walk won by Barrett in 1h 30m 50s and Melina Hamilton 4.20m pole vault.
Brunner also won the sprint double with 11.98s in the 100m and 24.18s in the 200m.
James Dolphin, who has qualified for the Games in the 200m, retained his sprint double titles recording 10.50s in the 100m and 20.88s in the 200m.
Carl Van der Speck confirmed his place in the relay squad for the Games after finishing third behind Dolphin and Chris Donaldson in the 100m final.
Kate McIlroy cut just over three seconds off her New Zealand 3000m steeplechase record with a time of 9m 47.99s to cement her claims for a place in the Games team. Fiona Crombie ran a personal best of 9m 59.16s with Rebecca Forlong, who has also qualified for selection in the steeplechase finishing third in 10m 16.77s.
Disaster for Kimberley Smith in the 5000m after leading throughout she struck trouble 150 metres from the finish with a tear in the left calf muscle. Smith hobbled to the finish in 15m 52.77s with a question mark now on whether she will be able to compete in Melbourne.
Brent Newdick stepped up to the challenge in the decathlon qualifying for the Games with a total score of 7682 points.
The women's heptathlon produced the best finish of the meeting with Rebecca Wardell helping Sarah Cowley to the required time in the 800m for a points score which saw them both qualifying for the Games.
Others still in with a chance of gaining a selection performance at the Australian championships this weekend are Jane Arnott who won her tenth straight 400m title in 52.77s, James Mortimer who collected his fourth straight 110m hurdles title in 14.04s, Nic O'Brien 400m hurdles winner in 50.75s, Andrea Miller 100m hurdles title holder in 13.86s, Jessica Ruthe 1500m champion in 4m 21.46s who will be going for the 10,000m, and Philip Jensen in the hammer. Jensen won the title with 65.85m.
Cory Innes won his first senior title in the 400m in 46.57s, heading in the champion for the past four years Tim Hawkes.
Shafat Salad qualified for the world junior championships after winning the 3000m steeplechase in 8m 59.09s and Jordon Vandermade qualified again for the world juniors in the decathlon. Vandermade would also qualify for the 400m in Beijing after he flashed home in 47.88s in the last event on day one of the decathlon competition.
New Zealand performances in Canberra on Thursday were Andrea Miller third in the 100m hurdles in 13.66s, Jessica Penney third in the long jump in another world junior qualifying jump of 6.33m, James Mortimer first in the 110m hurdles in a New Zealand national record equalling time of 13.90s, Nic O'Brien fifth in the 400m hurdles in 51.45s and Stuart Farquhar second in the javelin throwing 77.76m.
source Athletics New Zealand |
