Snell, Walker . . . and Preston
Only two Kiwis have run the 800m faster than James Preston; Olympic gold medallists Peter Snell and John Walker, both before the rangy Wellingtonian was born.
Preston, 25, in 2022 emerged from the disruptions of Covid to run the four best times of his career, twice breaking 1min 46sec, and coming within a tick of the world championships. His best, 1min 45.30sec, settled him on the heels of the late Peter Snell (1min 44.3sec in 1962) and Walker, 1min 44.92sec at the 1974 Commonwealth Games.
Tongues started wagging this week when Preston was omitted from the world championships squad, and Oceania champion Brad Mathas selected.
Speaking from Leuven in Belgium, Preston says he knew he had not qualified for Oregon so his non-selection was of little concern.
He went into 2022 with a simple goal: run fast. He did just that, so it was mission accomplished.
‘‘Everyone I’m talking to is ‘oh, you must be a bit disappointed you didn’t make the team’. I didn’t really care, to be honest, I achieved my goal of running fast,’’ he says.
After he ran 1min 45.3sec, he could have happily flown back to New Zealand that day with the job done, he says.
‘‘To run [under 1min 46sec] a second time, I was pretty stoked. Early in the year I wanted to run fast, to put myself in the position to run fast. We were more process focused, than outcome focused.
‘‘To have an amazing season – like I did – and run those times … it was successful in that sense, rather than just having a focus on trying to make the team. I’m happy with where I stand, I don’t think I could have done much more.
‘‘With all the uncertainty [around Covid] there wasn’t really a set goal . . . even coming into the last couple of months the goal wasn’t to make the world champs, which might sound a bit strange.’’
A Bachelor of Building Science, Preston told Stuff the IAAF selection criteria was at times baffling, based on a mixture of fast times and points won in key races.
Preston thought he had it worked out, and came close.
Some questioned how he set his season up, bypassing the Oceania championships in Brisbane to go to Europe, Preston said.
Again, that move was made with an eye to the future. With two 1min 45sec races to his name, he now has the chance of getting into swifter races, with the prospect of nailing down faster times.
‘‘I want to be making championship teams, but the goal for the most part is to set up my season so that I put myself in the best possible position to qualify.’’
His times had already opened doors into meetings in Europe, he said.
‘‘My last two races, I wouldn’t have got into them if I didn’t have the 1min 45.3sec behind my name. If I can stay healthy, I can take half a second off each year, at least.’’
Preston likes his history, though he is not a student in the fashion of Olympic 1500m medallist Nick Willis, who scans historic videos to see how races were run and won.
As for catching Walker and Snell, that’s not an ambition either. He met Snell once, when the triple gold medallist donated his spikes to Te Papa.
‘‘Records are a funny thing, there’s always going to be a bloke who’s faster than you.
‘‘Obviously it would be nice to run faster than those two, but with how tough it gets when you start running faster than 1min 45sec, you never know.
‘‘If you want to be making those championships, those semifinals and finals you need to be running faster than Walker ran, probably somewhere near Snell.’’
Athletics New Zealand high performance director Scott Newman said there was no prospect of adding athletes to the world championships squad.
The selection process was twofold: either run 1min 45.2sec or be highly ranked.
‘‘He . . . was conditionally selected subject to him remaining eligible to be entered under World Athletics rules,’’ Newman said.
‘‘For the 800m, only the top 48 ranked athletes are eligible to be entered. Unfortunately, despite his quick times, James slipped out of the top 48 ranked athletes, and therefore we were unable to enter him.
‘‘He was very aware of what was required for him to be able to be entered, and like us, was tracking his ranking daily.
‘‘We’ve obviously congratulated him on his breakthrough and have offered additional support.’’
‘‘Obviously it would be nice to run faster than those two, but with how tough it gets when you start running faster than 1min 45sec, you never know.’’ James Preston on Peter Snell and John Walker