Beatrice Faumuina, world champion in 1997, will open her discus throwing season by competing at Porritt Stadium Hamilton on Saturday.
It will be the first competition for the 32 year old since finishing fourth in the discus at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.
"I'm looking forward to seeing how things go and it will be an indication everything is going well. This time last year I was injured," said Faumuina.
Faumuina has qualified for the world athletic championships in Osaka in August with her throw of 63.30m in Wellington a year ago. This throw ranked her 14th in the world last year. Franka Dietzsch of Germany headed the 2006 ranking list with 68.51m.
Faumuina's best throw of 68.52m was achieved in Oslo Norway in July 1997, just before going on to Athens to win the world title.
Last season, Faumuina, 13 times New Zealand champion, won the national title in Christchurch with a throw of 61.61m and the Australian title in Sydney throwing 60.30m.
Faumuina will next compete at the Australian National Series meeting in Canberra on 27 January.
source Athletics New Zealand
