Face of the Day

Tiaan Whelpton had a feeling the 60m finalists at the ACT Championships in Canberra were set to post “some pretty crazy times”.

The Kiwi sprinter’s hunch proved correct.

Whelpton smashed a 30-year-old New Zealand record over the distance by crossing in 6.50s, achieving automatic qualification for the world indoor championships in China in March.

The 24-year-old went well under the previous national mark of 6.59, set by Gus Nketia in 1995, and finished second to Australian runner Lachlan Kennedy (6.43) in Saturday night’s final.

Whelpton earlier recorded a 6.52 in the heats but that time was discounted due to an illegal level of wind. He knew that if the conditions played their part, a fast track meant that time could be matched in the final.

“Me and all the boys were just sitting there behind the line saying, ‘Please just give us a legal wind, because we know we’ll put on some crazy times’,” Whelpton told Newstalk ZB. “And man, oh man, did we.

“When I heard [Kennedy] dropped a 6.43 and I wasn’t too far behind, I knew the times would be pretty quick. But in my mind, I was like, well, if you ran that quick, it must have been windy.

“But to my surprise, the wind was only +1.6, so everything was totally legal. So I was over the moon. I was super stoked.”

NZ Herald