World Champion confirmed for ITM
Friday 12 February 2010, 10:59AM
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Former world discus champion Beatrice Faumuina is the latest international superstar to confirm an appearance at the International Track Meet on March 18th at QEII Stadium in Christchurch.
Faumuina, the first New Zealander to win a world championships gold medal with her victory in the discus in 1997, is one of the established superstars of New Zealand athletics, and has had an extremely strong season in 2010 so far, with consistently her best performances for several years in winning the Capital Classic in Wellington, the Sylvia Potts Classic in Hastings, and the Cooks Classic in Wanganui, all with throws well beyond the Commonwealth Games qualifying distance of 56m. She has now broken the qualifying standard six times so far this season, with a best performance of 61.11m in Wellington last month. She will be hoping to repeat her 1998 and 2002 Commonwealth Games gold medals later this year in New Delhi, and is looking forward to continuing her rich vein of form at the ITM as she consistently throws further than the 60m mark.
Faumuina said today "I am looking forward to coming to compete in the International Meet in Christchurch, this is the first time the discus has been on the programme at this meet. QEII is such a great venue, and always gets a lot of public support". It will be the first time she has competed in Christchurch since 2006.
Meet Director Craig Motley said "We are very pleased to secure an athlete of the calibre of Beatrice, she has been one of NZ track and field’s shining lights for the last 15 or more years and is clearly back in excellent shape. She really hasn’t been pushed this year, so we will certainly be looking to bring a strong international performer for her to compete against, to bring out the best in her."
Faumuina was ranked third in the Commonwealth in 2009, and on performances so far this year would now be up to number two, behind the current world champion, Australian Dani Samuels.