At a glance

New Zealand team for the world athletics championships, London, August 4-13: Tom Walsh, Jacko Gill – shot put Eliza McCartney – pole vault Camille Buscomb, Zane Robertson – 10,000m Joseph Millar – 200m Angie Petty – 800m Quentin Rew – 50k race walk Ben Langton Burnell – javelin *further names could be added at July 23 cutoff starts on opening day (August 4) with qualifying. ‘‘I’m throwing better than I ever have at this time of year and I’m in the best shape I’ve been. When I do line things up at the world champs, a few people may be changing their tune about me.’’

Changing tunes. Is that a chip on his well-rounded shoulder?

Walsh admits he does feel under-rated.

‘‘That’s because Crouser is going so well, and it’s all about Crouser this year, which is fair enough. He deserves it. But sometimes it’s good to be an underdog. I know how far I can throw and I know I can beat him, because I’ve done it a few times.’’

To do that, Walsh figures he will need to climb up into the mid22m area (his PB is the 22.21 he threw in Zagreb last year). He’s convinced his training in Athens has him right on track to achieve that.

‘‘I’m capable,’’ he says. ‘‘I’m in better shape than last year. I feel like my technique is better and I know I’ve got more gas in the tank.’’

Walsh is nothing if not a learner.

In Rio last year he threw well below his best, while still picking up the bronze medal with a modest 21.36m. But within weeks he was busting up around the 22m mark in Europe, mopping up that inaugural Diamond League title.

Basically, he peaked too late. So this year the schedule has been moved forward to allow him to find those big bombs when it really matters.

‘‘Now I’m close to a Rio kind of freshness, so I’ve got another two weeks up my sleeve to get used to all that extra rhythm and timing that I need. I’ve got all this extra horsepower. All my gym numbers have gone up and my power output has gone up. It just sometimes takes a while to line it all up.’’

Ryan who? Right now it’s all about Tom Walsh being the best Tom Walsh he can be. The rest, he knows, will take care of itself.

The 23-year-old Nelson athlete has ambitions to meet with some of the world’s largest companies, including Facebook, Google and Amazon, to develop the technology to become the quickest man in history.

‘‘I’m going to be the fastest man on the planet ever,’’ Malone told England’s Channel Four.

‘‘I’m going to design a unique pair of blades that are going to be called super blades. Count on it, next three years, I’ll run faster than Usain Bolt.’’

Malone, who was born without fibula bones and had his legs amputated below the knee when he was 18 months old, has a personal best in the T44 100m of 10.90 seconds, some way off Bolt’s 100m world record of 9.58s. ‘‘I’m aiming for 9.4,’’ he said. Malone was adamant he could beat Bolt’s record and believed the potential was unlimited with technology for para athletes.

‘‘It won’t be done in the Paralympics, and I’ve no intention of ever racing Usain Bolt or ablebodied people. It’s about racing against their time outside of the rules and regulations that limit technology.

‘‘If you were me and you were bullied as a kid from five to 15, and you had this opportunity to use technology to do something that hasn’t been done before, you’d absolutely want to do it and that’s what I’m doing.’’