Valerie Vili winning in the Bird's Nest (© Getty Images)
On Friday night (20) the world’s top women shot putters will face off at Waitakere’s The Trusts Stadium in what will be the first of several battles in 2009. Valerie Vili, the current Olympic and World champion, will compete against her arch rival Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus in the 2009 edition of the Black Singlet Invitational.
The Waitakere Meeting is one of a select group of Area meetings at which points can be acquired by athletes to qualify for the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final, to be held on 12-13 September in Thessaloniki, Greece.
It will be Vili’s first competition of the season, while the Belarussian has had just one competition, a world-leading 19.55m effort indoors last week to capture the national title. Both athletes will be keen to notch up a win and gain the psychological edge before more important competitions later in the year.
Faumuina takes on American trio in the Discus
In another top field, former World Discus Throw champion Beatrice Faumuina will be looking to regain the form that saw her ranked highly in theworld rankings for more than a decade, after a disappointing showing in the Beijing Olympics. She will need to improve on her recent efforts to overcome a top international field with top USA throwers (Becky Breisch PB 67.37m, Suzy Powell PB 67.67m, and Aretha Thurmond PB 65.20m) all making the trip down under.
More top throwing will be seen in the men’s Javelin with Jarkko Koski-Vahala of Finland, and Josh Robinson of Australia up against 2008 Olympian Stuart Farquhar. Farquhar will be another who needs to lift his form from recent outings to match the visitors who should throw the spear beyond the 80m mark.
3000m national titles up for grabs
The New Zealand federation has recently reinstated the 3000m back into the championship programme and the senior men’s and women’s 3000m championships will be held in conjunction with the meeting. In the men’s field, Brett Tinguay should be one of the favourites after a four second personal best last week in the 1500m (3:44). The challenges should come from Andrew Davidson, winner of the 3000m in the recent Capital Classic meeting in Wellington, and Rowan Hooper, twice runner-up in the National Cross Country championships. In the women’s field, Rowan Baird should win comfortably. The University of Queensland architecture student currently holds the senior women’s 1500m and national cross country titles, a combination that should ensure she is too strong for the opposition. The main challenge should come from Fiona Crombie, a former 3000m Steeplechase national record holder.
Williams leads the sprint fields
The women’s sprints will no doubt be dominated by Monique Williams. Williams is currently the national titleholder in the 100m, 200m and 400m, and leads the rankings in all three events this summer. She will compete in the 100m and 200m on Friday night.
The men’s sprints will be much closer with Carl van der Speck showing good form this summer. 2008 Olympian James Dolphin returns to the track after playing some rugby sevens post the Beijing Olympics, and it will be interesting to see how his form is. Top Junior David Ambler (with the fastest time of the summer so far) will be absent, robbing the race of an intriguing matchup. Training partners Craig Bearda, Jeffery Thumath and Adam Sommerville should all be close in the 200m along with James Mortimer, with Thumath preferred for the win.
In the men’s 400m, Cory Innes from Dunedin is likley to be the favourite, although he has been struggling in recent times with an Achilles niggle. This paves the way for Andrew Moore (also from Dunedin) to step up and hopefully improve on his promising 46.94 effort earlier in the season. Other interest lies with the progress of Matthew Robinson, the National Secondary School Champion, a tall athlete mentioned by several prominent coaches as having excellent potential. Robinson upset another excellent 400m talent (in Frazer Wickes) at the Secondary School Championships late last year.
Tim Hawkes and Gareth Hyett (2007 World Championships representative at 1500m) will continue their rivalry over 800m. Hawkes – recently converted from 400m - won the 800m in Tauranga on New Years Day, with Hyett picking up a victory in the 1000m later in January. However, Samoan Olympian Anesse Current will be looking to take the victory away from the New Zealanders. Former World Junior 800m Representative Tom Osborne has missed several seasons but is back racing in 2009. He has made a promising return in his last two outings, but this will be a tougher test for him. There will also be a lot of local interest in the B 800m where many top juniors are lining up to run PBs after a spate of personal bests last week over 1500m in Hamilton.
Murray Taylor for the IAAF
