Nick Willis enjoys double wins in capital

Beijing Olympic silver medallist Nick Willis put his game face on to telling effect, picking up a double-header win at the Capital Classic athletics meeting in Wellington tonight.

Willis took out the 800m in a shade over one minute 52 seconds before turning his hand to the more unaccustomed 3000m 20min later.

In a race buffeted by blustery southerlies, Willis timed his run to perfection, moving into the lead 600m from home. He rounded early leaders Hamish Carson and New Zealand secondary schools champion Aaron Pulford and eased into the home straight five metres clear, holding off a stubborn Carson for an 8min 15.12sec win to claim the national title over the distance.

Willis said he was more than happy with the time, 29sec below his personal best. It showed he was well on track to defend his 1500m Commonwealth Games gold medal in October in New Delhi, where he also plans to contest the 800m.

Willis said today's races had been vital "to wake my system up again, to learn how to race", after nearly a year off with a hip injury.

"The purpose of doing this was to put myself in a really compromising position where a lot was on the line," he said.

"I had to have my game face on, there was no room for me to be casual about things. Now when I step on the line in these professional races in the US and Europe, hopefully that would have got all the cobwebs out of my system."

Willis now heads back overseas, with an indoor mile at Boston on February 6 and another two weeks later in Birmingham grand prix before he returns to New Zealand in March for the national championships.

Former world champion discus thrower Beatrice Faumuina was also in action, clearing 60m twice for the first time this season and again bettering the Commonwealth Games standard.

Faumuina started with a no-throw, and two less-than-impressive efforts of 56.35m and 52.60. But she slowly eased into her work and eventually, finding her timing - and the wind - with a fourth-round 61.10m.

A fifth-round 60.98m followed, and Faumuina rounded her series off with a solid 59.89m effort..

Although she said the result was pleasing, especially after a "shaky start" as the gusting southerly proved both inconsistent and elusive.

Wellington's Newtown Stadium has proved a happy hunting ground for Faumuina, whose last 60m plus throw came at the national athletics championships there in March last year.

"It's just nice to come out and consolidate what we did last year, but there's more work to be done," she said afterwards.

"I've spent a solid winter here at home, and I haven't really been able to take my foot off the pedal. I really just want to build consistency - the last three throws were good, but I didn't have a great start.

"There's still a lot of room for improvement, a lot of work."

- NZPA