Monday, 22 February 2010
Willis and Pitkämäki join Melbourne fields – IAAF World Challenge
2009 Boston mile winner Nick Willis (l) leading Chris Lukezic (Victah Sailer)
relnews
In what is shaping up as a super trans-Tasman showdown, Olympic 1500m silver medallist and reigning Commonwealth Games champion Nick Willis of New Zealand will take on Australia’s own 1500m men Jeff Riseley, Jeremy Roff and Mitch Kealey at the Melbourne Track Classic on Thursday 4 March, the kick-off of the 2010 IAAF World Challenge.
Hot on the heels of his new national 1500m indoor record at the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham on Saturday, where he clocked 3:35.8 to eclipse Sir John Walker’s 31-year mark of 3:37.4, Willis will head to Melbourne in ominous form.
Twenty-six-year-old Willis will return to Melbourne on the comeback trail from a serious hip injury that ruled him out of the 2009 World championships and as he looks towards his Commonwealth Games title defence.
“I'm pumped to return to Melbourne to race again,” Willis said.
“Winning the 1500m at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in front of 90,000 people at the MCG was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Coming back will give me a great chance to reflect on the moment that helped launch my international career and this will be another great opportunity to show the rest of the world that we can turn on world-class performances Down Under.”
The two-time Olympian, whose resume also includes a silver medal at the 2008 World Indoor Championships, a third place finish at the 2008 World Athletics Final and two World championships appearances (2005, 2007), said trans-Tasman honours would be on the line when he steps out at Melbourne Olympic Park next month.
Willis will face Australian World championships 1500m representatives Riseley and Roff and Beijing Olympics 1500m runner Mitch Kealey in Melbourne, in what looms as an enticing prelude to the track action at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, in October.
“It’s great to see a group of Aussie middle distance guys running so well but, like Kiwis in all sports, there is no one I would hate to lose to more than an Aussie,” Willis said.
“It should be a fast race and I welcome all the Kiwis living in Victoria to come along to see one of their own competing against the best in the world in their own backyard.”
Willis’ arrival in Melbourne will follow an impressive few weeks on the international circuit for the Kiwi runner, taking out the invitational mile at the Boston Indoor Games earlier this month in 3:55.26 before going on to rewrite the New Zealand record books in Birmingham at the weekend.
The New Zealand national 1500m record-holder, who boasts a personal best time of 3:32.17, is the latest in a long line of New Zealand middle distance runners to succeed on the world stage and follows Olympic Games medallists Jack Lovelock (1936), Peter Snell (1960, 1964), Rod Dixon (1972), Dick Quax (1976) and John Walker (1976) in making waves worldwide.
Early start for Pitkämäki
Former World champion and Beijing Olympic Games bronze medallist in the Javelin Throw Tero Pitkämäki will also be kicking off his season down under, with appearances at both the Sydney Track Classic on Saturday, 27 February 27 and later in Melbourne.
The Finn will take on Australia’s Beijing Olympic finalist Jarrod Bannister, as he aims to make a return to international competition at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, in October after a serious elbow injury threatened to derail his career.
The Sydney meet will be the first time Bannister and Pitkämäkimeet since the ill-fated Olympic final of 2008, where Bannister injured his elbow in the third round of competition and was forced to withdraw. While his opening throw of 83.45m was enough to secure sixth position, the highest place and best ever throw by an Australian at an Olympic Games, Bannister has unfinished business on the javelin runway and will be wasting no time in staking his claim for Commonwealth Games selection when the 27-year-old Finn hits town.
Across a 10-year international career Pitkämäki has compiled an impressive resume, highlighted by his 2007 World title win, 2008 Olympic bronze medal, a fifth place while ill at last year’s World championships, two World Athletics Final titles (2005, 2007), an eighth place at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004 and a personal best of 91.53m.
Under the guidance of former world record-holder Uwe Hohn, the only athlete ever to have exceeded the 100m-mark with his throw of 104.80m in Berlin (GER) in 1984, Bannister is one of Australia’s brightest athletics prospects and is working with Hohn as part of a six-month pilot program commissioned by Athletics Australia to ensure Bannister is coached to the level the national sporting body believes he can achieve.
The 25-year-old Queenslander, who now resides in Melbourne, began working with Hohn in Germany in 2008. As part of Athletics Australia’s new initiative, Hohn has relocated to Melbourne to work more closely with Bannister and the national sporting organisation.
“It’s definitely a lot easier now that Uwe’s in Australia, we can pretty much work on all aspects of my throwing and my development so it's definitely a positive influence having him here,” Bannister said.
With a personal best of 89.02m, Bannister said he hoped Pitkamaki would help him to surpass the Commonwealth Games A-qualifying mark of 80m at Sydney Olympic Park next Saturday night.
“It’s good to have some of the top international guys coming over to compete in Australia, it’s definitely exciting,” Bannister said.
“Anyone that’s throwing further than you or even around the same distance is going to push you to throw better in that competition so hopefully I’ll get over the 80m-mark and I’ll be pretty happy.”
The field for this weekend’s meeting in Sydney also includes World and Olympic Pole Vault champion Steve Hooker, and World discus champion Dani Samuels of Australia. International challengers include Kenyan 800m ace David Rudisha who’ll contest the 400m and take on American David Neville (USA, 400m), and American long jumper Trevell Quinley, a 2008 Olympian.
Athletics Australia for the IAAF
Hot on the heels of his new national 1500m indoor record at the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham on Saturday, where he clocked 3:35.8 to eclipse Sir John Walker’s 31-year mark of 3:37.4, Willis will head to Melbourne in ominous form.
Twenty-six-year-old Willis will return to Melbourne on the comeback trail from a serious hip injury that ruled him out of the 2009 World championships and as he looks towards his Commonwealth Games title defence.
“I'm pumped to return to Melbourne to race again,” Willis said.
“Winning the 1500m at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in front of 90,000 people at the MCG was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Coming back will give me a great chance to reflect on the moment that helped launch my international career and this will be another great opportunity to show the rest of the world that we can turn on world-class performances Down Under.”
The two-time Olympian, whose resume also includes a silver medal at the 2008 World Indoor Championships, a third place finish at the 2008 World Athletics Final and two World championships appearances (2005, 2007), said trans-Tasman honours would be on the line when he steps out at Melbourne Olympic Park next month.
Willis will face Australian World championships 1500m representatives Riseley and Roff and Beijing Olympics 1500m runner Mitch Kealey in Melbourne, in what looms as an enticing prelude to the track action at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, in October.
“It’s great to see a group of Aussie middle distance guys running so well but, like Kiwis in all sports, there is no one I would hate to lose to more than an Aussie,” Willis said.
“It should be a fast race and I welcome all the Kiwis living in Victoria to come along to see one of their own competing against the best in the world in their own backyard.”
Willis’ arrival in Melbourne will follow an impressive few weeks on the international circuit for the Kiwi runner, taking out the invitational mile at the Boston Indoor Games earlier this month in 3:55.26 before going on to rewrite the New Zealand record books in Birmingham at the weekend.
The New Zealand national 1500m record-holder, who boasts a personal best time of 3:32.17, is the latest in a long line of New Zealand middle distance runners to succeed on the world stage and follows Olympic Games medallists Jack Lovelock (1936), Peter Snell (1960, 1964), Rod Dixon (1972), Dick Quax (1976) and John Walker (1976) in making waves worldwide.
Early start for Pitkämäki
Former World champion and Beijing Olympic Games bronze medallist in the Javelin Throw Tero Pitkämäki will also be kicking off his season down under, with appearances at both the Sydney Track Classic on Saturday, 27 February 27 and later in Melbourne.
The Finn will take on Australia’s Beijing Olympic finalist Jarrod Bannister, as he aims to make a return to international competition at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, in October after a serious elbow injury threatened to derail his career.
The Sydney meet will be the first time Bannister and Pitkämäkimeet since the ill-fated Olympic final of 2008, where Bannister injured his elbow in the third round of competition and was forced to withdraw. While his opening throw of 83.45m was enough to secure sixth position, the highest place and best ever throw by an Australian at an Olympic Games, Bannister has unfinished business on the javelin runway and will be wasting no time in staking his claim for Commonwealth Games selection when the 27-year-old Finn hits town.
Across a 10-year international career Pitkämäki has compiled an impressive resume, highlighted by his 2007 World title win, 2008 Olympic bronze medal, a fifth place while ill at last year’s World championships, two World Athletics Final titles (2005, 2007), an eighth place at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004 and a personal best of 91.53m.
Under the guidance of former world record-holder Uwe Hohn, the only athlete ever to have exceeded the 100m-mark with his throw of 104.80m in Berlin (GER) in 1984, Bannister is one of Australia’s brightest athletics prospects and is working with Hohn as part of a six-month pilot program commissioned by Athletics Australia to ensure Bannister is coached to the level the national sporting body believes he can achieve.
The 25-year-old Queenslander, who now resides in Melbourne, began working with Hohn in Germany in 2008. As part of Athletics Australia’s new initiative, Hohn has relocated to Melbourne to work more closely with Bannister and the national sporting organisation.
“It’s definitely a lot easier now that Uwe’s in Australia, we can pretty much work on all aspects of my throwing and my development so it's definitely a positive influence having him here,” Bannister said.
With a personal best of 89.02m, Bannister said he hoped Pitkamaki would help him to surpass the Commonwealth Games A-qualifying mark of 80m at Sydney Olympic Park next Saturday night.
“It’s good to have some of the top international guys coming over to compete in Australia, it’s definitely exciting,” Bannister said.
“Anyone that’s throwing further than you or even around the same distance is going to push you to throw better in that competition so hopefully I’ll get over the 80m-mark and I’ll be pretty happy.”
The field for this weekend’s meeting in Sydney also includes World and Olympic Pole Vault champion Steve Hooker, and World discus champion Dani Samuels of Australia. International challengers include Kenyan 800m ace David Rudisha who’ll contest the 400m and take on American David Neville (USA, 400m), and American long jumper Trevell Quinley, a 2008 Olympian.
Athletics Australia for the IAAF