Millar ‘a step up from all of us’
His name may have been scratched from the record books, but Chris Donaldson isn’t complaining.
The former sprinter’s time of 20.42sec in the 200m had stood as the New Zealand record for 20 years until Sunday, when Joseph Millar went .05sec faster at the national track and field championships in Hamilton, booking himself a ticket to this year’s world championships and next year’s Commonwealth Games.
‘‘The truth is that all records are there to be broken, and there’s always going to be someone who comes along who is quicker and faster,’’ said Donaldson.
‘‘I knew it would be eventually and I was hoping it would be, to be honest, because I love track and field and I love to see sprinting do well, and in New Zealand especially.’’
Looking back at March 1997, when he set the old record in Melbourne, Donaldson recalled that it was an interesting era.
‘‘We had a group of very talented sprinters, like Mark Keddell, who had just gone under the record before that, and smashed it. It didn’t even cross my mind about that record – I just wanted to win the race, which was the Aussie nationals. I was pretty young, so it was all new and exciting and it just happened to go really well for me in that race.’’
He also set the best time by a New Zealander in New Zealand in the 100m, of 10.27sec, which was .16sec outside the overall record of 10.11sec, set by Gus Nketia in 1991. Donaldson’s best-ever 100m mark was 10.17sec, a tick better than Millar’s current best of 10.18sec, set as he won the national title over that distance on Friday.
Since Donaldson stopped competing, James Dolphin had been the only other sprinter to come close to his 200m mark, achieving a personal best of 20.56sec, and he said that Millar was now ‘‘a step up from all of us’’.
‘‘He’s gone to the next level, to be honest.’’
Donaldson, now the Black Caps’ strength and conditioning coach, a role he has had for the past five years, said that the environment Millar competes in is a lot harder than the one there was when he was active.
‘‘Standards are a lot higher, the world’s a lot quicker, he has to run these times which weren’t in my the day the qualifying times to get to the Olympics and the world championships. I was very lucky and he’s worked very hard to get to represent New Zealand and to get to get to these world championships and Commonwealth Games that are coming up.’’
Millar was in a reflective mood after his win on Sunday at Porritt Stadium, hoping that his efforts might help inspire future generations.
‘‘Growing up and coming through the ranks and being told that New Zealand wasn’t a sprinting nation and stuff like that, I’ve always thought, well, there’s got to be a first person to do stuff like that, and we have had that – Chris Donaldson, James Dolphin and Gus Nketia are a few names I can pull off the top of my head.
‘‘I just really hope that if I don’t go further than this, that I’ve done enough to help some of the guys coming through see that this sort of thing is possible if you just stick to it, no matter what people say.
WALSH WINS EIGHTH STRAIGHT TITLE
Elsewhere at Porritt Stadium on Sunday, it was business as usual for a couple of New Zealand’s Rio Olympics stars.
Tom Walsh won his eight men’s shot put title in a row, with a best throw of 21.51m. He was just short of his New Zealand resident record of 21.80m on the North Shore last month.
He opened with 21.07m the 21.51m came in round two and he 21.35m in the fourth round and finished with 21.00m. Ryan Ballantyne was second with a personal best 16.66m. Jacko Gill was injured and did not compete.
Eliza McCartney went back to back in the women’s pole vault, but failed to clear 4.70m in any of her three attempts, finishing with a best effort of 4.55m. Jacko Gill withdrew from the shot put two days out with a thigh injury.
Cantabrian Angie Petty won the women’s 1500m in 4min 19.54sec, holding off Camille Buscomb and Katherine Camp in a tight finish to claim the 800m-1500m double, while Eric Speakman won the men’s 1500m in 3min 49.9sec.
Zoe Hobbs also completed the women’s sprint double, winning the 200m in 23.85sec to go with the 100m title she claimed on Friday.