Olympic Champ vs Diamond League Champ: Battle of the Titans
Olympic bronze medallist and IAAF Diamond League champion Tom Walsh is relishing the prospect of featuring in a pair of world-class shot put competitions in New Zealand later this month. Here the seven times NZ shot put champion chats to Steve Landells about what to expect from the top-quality events.
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Five minutes with Eric Speakman
Rising New Zealand middle-distance talent Eric Speakman last year ran 3:37 for the 1500m and also became the 39th Kiwi to run a sub-four-minute mile. Here the Hawkes Bay-based athlete offers a glimpse into his world by answering our Five Minutes with… questions.
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International Athletics Series
Not long now until the three fantastic meetings that will make up the International Athletics Series. The excitement kicks off on Sunday 19 February in Christchurch with the Big Shot and Fast K, moves to central Auckland for the Vertical Pursuit and finishes on 26 February on the North Shore of Auckland with the Auckland Track Challenge. The series will showcase some of our Olympic stars up close with two of the three events to be held in public spaces, rather than at athletics tracks.
Olympic shot put champion to take on Kiwi stars
McCartney headlines top vaulting action up close
Get Auckland Track Challenge tickets now
Auckland Track Challenge
The final act of the 2017 International Athletics Series will be the Auckland Track Challenge. on Sunday 26 February at AUT Millennium Stadium on Auckland's North Shore.
Two of New Zealand's Rio Olympic medallists, Eliza McCartney and Tom Walsh will be in action along with Paralympics star Liam Malone.
The men's shot put will see the Olympic Champ, Ryan Crouser take on the Diamond League and World Indoor Champ Tom Walsh with three other world class shot putters.
Eliza McCartney will be up against two of North America's best in the women's pole vault and there will be some quality supporting events. A rare opporunity to see these athletes compete in New Zealand in 2017!
Classic Meets
Four of the five Classic meetings for 2017 are now behind us with some excellent competition and top performances, The final meeting in the series, the Porritt Classic in Hamilton this Saturday is the biggest of the series and is bound to see some excellent performances and exciting contests. Get down to the Porritt Classic and check out some high quality athletics. Head to Porritt Classic for more information.
Technology to improve your experience
We’re using a new App called Track Meet Mobile at the Porritt Classic on Saturday to make it easier for you to follow the action at major athletics meetings. To find out more about Track Meet Mobile for your Apple or Android portable device, head to our Live Results page. You'll find the start lists for Porritt Classic on Track Meet Mobile now.
Upcoming NZ Championship Events
Entries are open for the NZ Combined Event Championships in Dunedin on 18 - 19 February (closing 13 Feb), for the NZ Track & Field Champs (Hamilton 17-19 March) and for the NZ Mountain Running Champs on 25 March in Queenstown.
Coaching Corner
Two fantastic opportunities for hurdlers and javelin throwers are in Hamilton this weekend around the Porritt Classic. Find out more and register your interest.
Porritt Classic Hurdles Festival (11-12 Feb)
Porritt Classic Javelin Camp (10-12 Feb)
Coaches at a forum in Wellington with the Capital Classic meeting looking at Critical success factors in middle distance coaching.
Official Topics
At a recent meeting of the National Officials Committee (NOC), Heather O’Hagan stepped down as chair. She will also step off the Committee mid-year. Heather has been chair since 2013 and has done an amazing amount of work on the committee. Under Heathers leadeship, all examinations have been rewritten and training material updated along with other changes. Heather is one of New Zealand’s five International Technical Officials appointed by Oceania Athletics Association. Ruth Liong has taken over as chair. We thank Heather for her work and wish Ruth well for her term.
Rankings
We now have over 73,000 ranked performances by almost 3,700 athletics in the Athletics NZ Rankings database. There have been over 1300 performances added so far in 2017, so the rankings for this year are starting to fill out. Don’t forget to check out the new head to head comparisons too.
Head to www.anzrankings.co.nz to see who the leaders are in each event.
Weekly Roundup
Another of the benefits offered by Athletics NZ is our Weekly Roundup from around New Zealand and NZ athletes overseas. It’s compiled by Murray McKinnon who spends hour each week tracking down Kiwi performances around the world. It comes out each Monday. If you are not already receiving it, head to the Athletics NZ website (near the bottom of the home page) and you can subscribe there.
Previous issues of AiA
If you are new to Athletics in Action and would like to check out some previous issues, head to Athletics in Action
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