Adams eyes Tokyo Games
Double Olympic champion Dame Valerie Adams has won her comeback meeting after the birth of her second child, throwing 18.65m in the shot put at the Potts Classic in Hastings yesterday.
The distance was enough to gain an automatic qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, although it was well short of her personal best of 21.24m.
Adams had a son last March, joining the daughter she welcomed in 2017.
But her successful return to competition in Hastings showed that the competitive fire still burns deeply and gives her a good base from which to launch an Olympics campaign.
Her 18.65m throw was comfortably better than second placegetter Madison-Lee Wesche, whose effort of 17.51m was about one metre short of Olympic qualification (18.50m).
Victoria Owers was third (15.71m) and Kaia Tupu-South (15.08m) finished fourth.
Adams, who won Olympic gold in 2008 and 2012, and silver at Rio in 2016, said she was in good physical shape for her return yesterday, but admitted to feeling the nerves as she chased a Tokyo place.
‘‘I posted up a good distance today. It was pretty consistent so I can’t complain, but this is our first time in 20 months out here so watch this space,’’ Adams said.
‘‘We had two goals to come out and achieve today and that was to qualify for world indoor championships in Nanjing in March and also for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, so it’s pretty awesome to do it on my first competition.
‘‘That kind of takes the pressure off just a little bit and I just hope to build more on this at the next comp, which is going to be at Porritt Classic on the 15th of February.’’
In October, Adams revealed how difficult it was to be separated from her son Kepaleli after he was whisked off to an incubator following his premature birth in March.
Rising star Edward OseiNketia was second in the men’s 100m final in 10.41sec behind Hamish Gill, of Auckland, who held on to finish first in 10.40sec. Third was Cody Wilson in 10.66.
Zoe Hobbs was a convincing winner in the women’s 100m final in 11.38sec, .01 of a second off her personal best, which she set at the Potts Classic in 2019. Second was Hawke’s Bay local Georgia Hulls in 11.74.
In the senior men’s shot put, Kiwi star Tom Walsh won with a best throw of 21.10m, with Ryan Ballantyne second with 19.33m.