Osei-Nketia’s coach questions Athletics NZ’s selection policy
The coach of the fastest man in New Zealand history has called for an urgent review of Athletics New Zealand’s selection criteria for the Commonwealth Games after witnessing another sluggish men’s 100m final.
Gary Henley-Smith believed his star runner, Eddie Osei-Nketia, could have won a medal in the iconic sprint event had New Zealand selected the record-breaking 21-year-old, who last month smashed his father’s long-standing national record at the world championships in Eugene.
Osei-Nketia needed to run one A standard time of 10.07sec or two B standard times of 10.12sec to meet New Zealand’s selection criteria for the Commonwealth Games but he left his run too late, clocking his record-breaking 10.08sec (which would have been a second B standard time) when the deadline had already passed.
But Henley Smith said administrators at Athletics NZ have been left with egg on their face after yesterday’s 100m final for setting standards that were too ‘‘unrealistic’’ as 10.08sec would have won Osei-Nketia a silver medal had he been there and matched his personal best.
In fact, 10.08 would have been good enough to win a silver medal at each of the last six Commonwealth Games dating back to Manchester 2002.
Osei-Nketia is the only New Zealander to run a legal time under 10.10.
‘‘What are the administrators doing?
‘‘Are they going to review what has happened? There needs to be questions asked of the administrators of the sport,’’ HenleySmith said.
‘‘10.08 last time was a silver medal and again if he had run 10.08, he would have got a silver medal so why is the standard 10.07?
‘‘That’s a really interesting question that needs to be asked of Athletics New Zealand.
‘‘I feel sorry for him because he chose to represent New Zealand, but if he was in Australia he’d be running for Australia at all of these things.’’
Osei-Nketia also missed out on last year’s Tokyo Olympics as he did not meet the New Zealand Olympic Committee’s requirement of proving he was capable of a top-16 finish. His personal best at the time, 10.12, would have put him 0.01sec outside the top 16 in 17th.
Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala, who Osei-Nketia beat during the heats at the world championships, won the 100m final at the Commonwealth Games in 10.02sec seconds, with South Africa’s Akani Simbine finishing second in 10.13 and Sri Lanka’s Yupun Abeykoon third in 10.14.
In May, Athletics NZ high performance manager Scott Newman agreed the qualifying standards for male sprinters were ‘‘really tough’’ but Osei-Nketia ‘‘simply hadn’t run fast enough’’ last summer.
His two fastest times in the qualifying period were 10.12 in Brisbane last year, and 10.19 in Adelaide earlier this year.
‘‘There were no extenuating circumstances that could get him nominated on that basis,’’ Newman said in May.