World record or Olympic champ?

A question often asked is what is more important to an athlete, to be an Olympic champion, or a world record holder?

I cannot recall who it was, possibly John Walker, who summed it up by saying ‘I’m only a world record holder until someone comes out and betters my time but I will always be an Olympic champion’.

With this in mind, you must feel for American hurdler Kendra Harrison, who, last weekend, set a new world record for the women’s 100m hurdles, but will not get the opportunity to compete at the Olympics.

The United States of America have a very clear selection policy, with athletes needing to be placed in the first three at their selection trial to be selected for Rio.

Unfortunately Kendra had a shocker in the trials, only finishing sixth, and missed selection.

New Zealand has a quite different selection process, with an A and B standards nominated, which athletes must achieve before being considered.

There is also the expectation athletes would be capable of finishing in the top 16 at the Olympics.

Manawatu’s Paul Martelletti, the country’s top marathon runner, has bettered the B qualification on two occasions, but has not been included in the Rio team.

One wonders if the fact that Paul being based overseas, is relatively unknown in New Zealand and not having placed highly in a major marathon counted against him.

It is quite exciting as we build into Rio, seeing some great performances from our leading track and field hopes.

Valerie Adams is starting to hit her straps at the right time, with a series of throws beyond the 20-metre mark and more importantly, confidence-building victories over her main rivals.

Shot putter Tom Walsh is a regular podium finisher in the Diamond League series and perhaps our most exciting athlete, Eliza Mccartney, has shown she can foot it in the big time, with her third place in the pole vault in last weekend’s London Diamond League meet.

It is exciting the progress being made by our young athletes at the under-20 world championships in Poland.

The team included a number of athletes we regularly have competing at our meetings.

Zoe Hobbs finished fourth in the 100m semifinal, setting a national under-20 record of 11.53s in the heat, bettering the 1990 record set by Briar Toop.

Another to set a new national record was Wellington’s James Preston with his 1m48.06 when finishing seventh in the 800m.

We had high expectations of our women’s 4x100m relay team, who lived up to hype by crossing the line first in their heat, only to receive the disappointment of being disqualified for a lane infringement.

Their time in the heat bettered the national record and if reproduced in the final, would have placed them fourth.

While a disappointing result, they are a great prospect for the future.

Our sport lost a man who has made a very valuable contribution to the development of young athletes in the region over the years, with the passing of Stuart Hilder last weekend.

Stuart has been associated with many Manawatu secondary schools and at each of these has made an immediate impact encouraging students to have a go at athletics and offering them coaching, regardless of their ability, with considerable success.

This initial encouragement was often the first step in successful sporting careers for many students.

Athletics Manawatu-wanganui has long been thought of as one of the more successful nurseries of athletics talent in the country and athletes coached by Stuart were among those who helped gain this early recognition.

Stuart was very passionate about the sport and the athletes he coached, and I have fond memories of the dedication he showed at most major meetings.

I believe he also showed similar passion in his involvement in hockey.

Manawatu athletes will have the chance for a bit of out-of-season competition on Sunday, with the second of the winter track and field series at the Manawatu Community Athletics Track.

The programme starts at 1pm with the 60m races, high jump, triple jump and shot put.

Distance runners get their chance at 1.20pm, contesting a combined event, with the options of completing either 5000m, 3000m or 1000m.

The second series of field events start at 1.45pm, with the long jump, discus and hammer throw.

The 800m races start at 1.50pm, before the meeting concludes with the 200m races.