Competitors aiming for PBs
THE success of Rio should leave Otago’s paraathletes confident a month before their next major competition.
Three athletes from the province will travel with the New Zealand team of six to the world paraathletics championships in London, beginning on July 14.
T47 long jumper and sprinter Anna Grimaldi, F46 javelin thrower Holly Robinson and F34 shot putter Jess Hamill won gold, silver and bronze medals respectively at last year’s Paralympics.
Rory McSweeney, who won bronze in Rio, will also attend the championships, although he has since relocated to Christchurch.
New Zealand paraathletics high performance manager Raylene Bates, also of Otago, will travel with the team.
She said the success of nine months ago should have the athletes feeling confident.
‘‘No, I mean it’s only the pressure the athletes put on themselves,’’ Bates said in response to whether there was extra pressure.
‘‘At the end of the day they’re all still tracking well, they’re all still ranked.
‘‘It’s no different to the pressure they had from going to world champs in 2015 or into Rio.
‘‘They’re all aiming for personalbest performances, obviously, and they’ve got a track record of being able to perform at major events.
‘‘So they should be confident in that, rather than feeling pressure.’’
She is happy with the makeup of team, with everyone selected being ranked in the world’s top five.
It will officially begin its preparations in Fiji at the Oceania championships, beginning on June 28.
It would then stop over in Wales, before progressing on to London.
However, several of the group, including the Otago contingent, will head to Townsville for two competitions in preparation.
The group was beginning to gain experience at big competitions, something Robinson, attending her fourth world championships, said was important.
‘‘Experience said.
‘‘I have been to a few [major competitions] now, which I’m really lucky with.
is
huge,’’ she
‘‘Each world champs and each Paralympics has been very different and those are things that help you to deal with going into your next major champs.
‘‘I didn’t perform as well as I would have liked to at the last world champs, but I’ve learnt from that and what I need to do to bring things back.’’
Grimaldi agreed, saying that it was good knowing she was capable of pulling out a big performance on the day.
She had come off a tough training block and while feeling a bit more pressure than at Rio, she was excited and would be happy provided she gave it her best shot.
Hamill has overcome an illness which resulted in her her missing the national championships earlier in the year.
She is throwing well and is looking forward to getting into warmer weather to practice outdoors.
Meanwhile, Hamill has been presented with the runnerup award for the New Zealand Police Sports association sportsperson of the year.
A runnerup prize was not normally awarded, but the 26yearold had a highachieving year in 2016 that the association wanted to acknowledge.
She said she had been honoured to be presented with the award.