Electric Weekend of Athletics: National Titles & Records
An electric weekend of Athletics, National titles decided, Oceania Record, World Leads, and National Records broken in non-stop athletics action
New Zealand gathered at the historic Cooks Gardens for the Pak’n’Save Cooks International Classic, the event doubling as the New Zealand Mile Championships.
In the field Oceania Champion and Record Holder Lauren Bruce broke the 70m barrier in the Women’s Hammer to take the World Lead early in 2026. On track, Tiaan Whelpton showed speed in the 100m and 60m clocking a wind assisted 10.02w and 6.56w respectively. Oceania’s fastest woman Zoe Hobbs stormed home in the 100m and 60m in a wind assisted 11.09w and 7.11w respectively, the tailwinds strong in Whanganui and over the 2m/s threshold for the times to be considered “wind legal”.
The NZ Mile Championships took to the track to close out the evening. Rosa Twyford taking the title ahead of Scarlett Robb, and Nina Chalmers. International visitor Laura Nicholson took line honours ahead of the NZ trio. Sam Tanner and Sam Ruthe headlined another middle-distance clash with Sam Tanner taking the NZ Mile title of the youngster Sam Ruthe. Ruthe running a world best for his 16 years age group in 3:53.83.
The Continental Tour heads to Auckland for the Sir Graeme Douglas International on March 8th.
The World Athletics Indoor Tour had its first meeting at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston, United States. Cameron Myers (AUS) took line honours in the Men’s 3000m Short Track to break the Oceania Record (Indoor/Short track and Outdoor) in 7:27.57. He lines up in the Millrose Games next week and speaking on the weekend ahead: “I really want to be as competitive as possible next week. So that means not just be running for a third or fourth place finish, I want to compete. So, if that means I blow up and don’t win it, I would rather go home satisfied on the plane knowing I gave it my best effort. I’m in a good position to do that, so it should be fun” Linden Hall (AUS) and Jessica Hull (AUS) taking on the Women’s 3000m Short Track placing 2nd and 3rd respectivly.
Back to Australia and it was time for the annual Supernova event, as part of the World Race-Walking Tour. The Silver level meeting also deciding the Australian 10,000m Race Walk Champions. Elizabeth McMillen taking the Australian title and boking her automatic nomination for the Commonwealth Games ahead of Rebecca Henderson and Olivia Sandery. In the Men’s race World u20 Record Holder Isaac Beacroft taking the Australian title and automatic Commonwealth Games Nomination, Declan Tingay and Timothy Fraser taking out the minor medals.
In the Australian capital the ACT Open and U20 Championships were conducted with Queensland based Pais Wisil equalling his own Papua New Guinean Record in the 60m running 6.64. The tailwind too strong in the final for his 6.57 performance to be considered “wind legal” however becomes the fastest all conditions performance by a Pacific Island Athlete.
Image: Kevmofoto for World Atheltics
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