Willis out, Osei-Nketia in for world championships

Two-time Olympic medallist Nick Willis won’t feature for New Zealand at the world athletics championships.

Willis was the glaring omission from the 13-strong squad for the competition in Doha, Qatar, which runs from September 27-October 6.

The 36-year-old, who is aiming to bow out after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, did not receive an invitation from the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) based on their rolldown system.

Willis has enjoyed a decorated career, capturing silver in the 1500m at the 2008 Olympics and bronze at the 2016 Olympics. He won Commonwealth Games gold in the 1500m in 2006 in Melbourne.

He received a stern reality check at the Rome Diamond League event in June, finishing a distant last in the 5000 metres in 13:56.94, 31 seconds behind the penultimate finisher.

There will be plenty of intrigue in how the highly touted Edward Osei-Nketia and Zoe Hobbs go in the 100m at their first world championships.

Osei-Nketia told Stuff this month, he was targeting a place in the 100m semifinals at his debut world athletics championships.

‘‘I’ve been looking up my competition and it’s kind of scary but I feel like I can handle them,’’ the 18-year-old said.

Osei-Nketia is the son of national 100m record holder Gus Nketia.

Both Osei-Nketia and Hobbs secured New Zealand recordbreaking performances earlier this year and qualified by winning their respective 100m events at the Oceania Area Championships in June.

Also new to the event are 2018 world junior (U20) shot put champion Maddison-Lee Wesche and high jumper Hamish Kerr.