Lataisi Mwea of Kiribati, current HPTC athlete has set a new National Record on the weekend.
Lataisi has been based at the OAA High Performance Training Centre from 2019 when he was initially sent by his Federation for a High Jump Training Scholarship. He commenced working with Coach Phil Newton and was able to improve on his Personal Best, in the process breaking his own National Record when he jumped 2.00m.
In his time at the HPTC he has been learning as much as he can to be able to take back to his country when he does return. As a result, he has completed a Community Coach course and been undertaking some online short courses in various subjects.
After a change of coach to Andrew Lulham Lataisi indicated an interest in undertaking sprint training in addition to his jumps training. He linked with Leanne Hines-Smith for his track sessions and has been working very hard. His efforts have paid off, with numerous personal bests in the early part of Queensland Athletics season, although the wind conditions were playing havoc.
On the weekend, at the Queensland Athletics, Joanna Stone Shield, Lataisi was able to race with a legal tailwind and break his National 200m record convincingly, stopping the clock at 22.61 (+0.0). A very good race, considering he backed up from a 100m race where he recorded 11.30 (+2.5).
Lataisi is now keen to continue chipping away at his times, and intends to continue improving with his High Jump.
Congratulations Lataisi.
Photo © Casey Sims
