Old Stars & New Stars on show in Palau in July

Papua New Guinea sprinting is on the rise. Over the past year, PNG athletes have broken national records in the 100m, 200m, and 60m events across outdoor and indoor tracks. A new generation of sprinters is emerging, carrying not only national pride but also strong family legacies. The Men’s 100m heats begin on July 4 and are among the most anticipated events of the Pacific Mini Games.

The title of “Sprint King of the Pacific” has previously been held by Banuve Tabakaucoro of Fiji and Jeremy Dodson of Samoa. This year, two Papua New Guineans are in contention to claim that crown.

Pais Wisil and Tovetuna (Timothy) Tuna share the current PNG national record of 10.24, both set in 2025. In the same season, Wisil broke the indoor 60m record, while Tuna claimed the outdoor 200m mark. Their surnames are well known to anyone familiar with Pacific sprinting.

Pais is the youngest of three Wisil family members to represent his country. His older sister, Toea, first was introduced to the Pacific at the Mini Games in Palau in 2015. At those Games Toea won a silver and two bronze medals in the sprint events. In her career Toea won a total of 14 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze medals in individual events.

Her older brother Kupun who won sprint medals in the 2013 and 2015 Games – always ran against Banuve. Now the third member of the family has his turn to make a Pacific-wide reputation for himself. And that is Pais. How will he go here in Palau 2025 – ten years after his sister made her Mini Games debut?

From an earlier PNG sporting family, we see Tovetuna (Timothy) Tuna. Tovetuna’s father, Takale Tuna captured the attention of the Pacific public in the 1985 Mini Games in the Cook Islands where he won gold in the 100m, 200m and 400m. In front of his home crowd in the Port Moresby 1991 South Pacific Games he won gold in the 200m, silver medals in the 100m and 400m and gold in both relays. Truly a fine father figure for Timothy to emulate.

The Papua New Guinean’s face a fast field in the Men’s 100m, look out for the Samoa’s Johnny Key, and Australian duo of Michael Alofokhai and James Gebert

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