Vili, Smith in fine form at track champs

JOHN SELKIRK/Dominion Post

ALL SMILES: Kimberly Smith after winning her 5000m run at the NZ Track and Field championships.

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Beijing Olympics medal hopes Valerie Vili and Kimberley Smith were both convincing winners on the first night of the track and field national championships in Auckland last night.

Vili - the shot put world champion - continued her remarkably consistent run of form by hurling a 20m throw to win her eighth consecutive national title.

Smith - running in New Zealand for the first time since she tore her Achilles tendon at the nationals in Christchurch two years ago - produced a lone-ranger run to win the women's 5000m title in 15min 19.61sec

Vili was "pretty happy'' with her series of six throws. Her third effort of 20m was only .54m less than her personal best and national record set when she won her world title in Osaka last year. Her others were all in the 19m mark with her second throw measured at 19.99m.

Vili  - who received her winners' medal from 1952 Olympic Games long jump gold medalist Yvette Corlett (nee Williams ) - said while she enjoys competing at nationals, it "wasn't really a targeted meet'' and she had been training full-on but had then "tapered down a bit''.

The 23-year-old has been tossing the shot out to 20m almost routinely this year and is rapt with her consistency.

"That was one of my goals to throw 20 metres as much as I can this year in my comp stuff. Consistency is the key to success.''

Vili is in a "totally different'' space now to this time two years ago before winning the Commonwealth Games gold medal in Melbourne.  "I've had two years of training under my belt, With training partners... to keep you honest, you do grow, you do mature, god, I'm 23 now.''

Vili said a positive mental state was "everything'' in such an important year of her career.  She quipped "if you're cuckoo in the head'' it would undermine peak physical preparation.

She will head to a train to Townsville to a training camp and then compete in the Good Luck Beijing event in May.

Smith, who was fifth in the 10,000m at the last world championships was also pleased with her win on her Auckland home track.

She had wanted to run consistent "74, 75 (second) splits'' and was happy to achieve that in a race which saw Olympic triathlete Sam Warriner finish third in her fourth attempt at the track.

Smith - who has set new national records in the 3000, 5000m and 10,000m in the last 12 months and ran at the world indoor track championships a fortnight ago - is churning through 80 to 90 miles per week in her Beijing buildup and confirmed she is now ‘aiming for'' a medal at the Olympics after her "confidence boost'' at the world championships.

"My coach told me I could get the bronze medal and I didn't really believe him.''

She said she had proved she could "get in a medal position''. "This year I want to get in my head that I do want a medal and make sure I get in that position.''

Smith hopes to run both the 5000m and 10,000m at Beijing, but will only attempt the double because her specialist 10,000m event is on first.  She said the weather in the Chinese capital could make running both distance events a difficult assignment.

Longer-term, Smith hopes to run a marathon with a view to specialising in the event later in her career.

Olympic Games 200m qualifier James Dolphin was foiled in his attempt to win a fourth consecutive 100m title when he finished third behind Otago's Chris Donaldson and Todd Mansfield.  Donaldson - the New Zealand 200m record-holder who shared the 100m title with Dolphin last year -  won in 10.79sec.

Auckland's Monique Williams warmed up for her 200m Olympic qualifying attempt tonight by winning the 100m, with Olympic hurdling hopeful Andrea Miller among the minor medals.

Canterbury teenager David Ambler confirmed his sprinting promise by winning the under-19 men's 100m title in 11.05sec with another Cantabrian, Tim Jones, third.

Tasman's Harry Dixon produced a fast finish to win the under-19 men's 5000m final.

Canterbury won two junior field event titles with William Taylor heading a two-man field in under-16 pole vault and Benn Loh leaping 1.97m to take gold in the under-19 high jump.

- © Fairfax NZ News