Athletics: Shot putter Nick Palmer shines again

World ranked: Nick Palmer added a North Island title to his CV a week after an Aussie one. Photo/File

Backing up a week after experiencing international glory for the first time can be tough ... just ask Hawke's Bay shot putter Nick Palmer.

"Yes it was a pretty awful throw. We got what we wanted in terms of the result but not the distance," Karamu High School's Palmer said, reflecting on his win in the senior boys 5kg event at the North Island Secondary Schools athletics championships in Inglewood at the weekend with an 18.26m throw.

The closest throws to Palmer's were around the 15m mark.

"For me Inglewood was just about feeling my way back into things as I bounce back from the Aussie trip which was an awesome experience. I beat the top Aussie guy on his turf at the Aussie champs and returned home with a world ranking of No 2," said Palmer, 16.

He won the under-18 title with a 19.97m throw and finished third in the under-20 event with a 17.14m effort.

"I was rapt how everything peaked at the right time in Sydney. Everything went according to plan . . . I was throwing in the mid 19s during trainings and to get close to 20m on the day was pretty pleasing," Palmer said.

"That was my first international event overseas and it will give me confidence for future events."

Palmer's Christchurch-based coach, former Australian athlete Dale Stevenson, was just as delighted.

"Dale was pretty rapt and told me to enjoy the moment before I worry about serious training again," Palmer said.

The next event for the 2016 Hawke's Bay Secondary Schools Male Athletics Athlete of the Year will be the July Commonwealth Youth Games in the Bahamas.

"I start a three-month training programme for those Games this week . . . there will be plenty of visits to the Hawke's Bay Regional Sports Park," Palmer said.

In a fortnight he will travel to Christchurch for a coaching camp with Stevenson. He expects some tinkering with his technique.

Stevenson also has Olympian Tom Walsh and several other leading competitors in his stable. Until March last year Palmer was coached by his father, Bob.

"We sort of stumbled our way through things," Palmer recalled.

The Bahamas trip will be a major step in Palmer's quest to qualify for next year's World Junior Champs in Finland. The qualifying mark with the 6kg shot is 18.60m and Palmer has thrown 17.91m this year.

The Year 11 student qualified for the world under-18 championships, which are scheduled to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, in July. But he won't be going because Athletics New Zealand decided this year it wouldn't be safe to send a team there because of the political unrest.

Hawke's Bay's other medallist at the Australian championships, Havelock North High School sprinter Georgia Hulls, was also dominant in Inglewood. Hulls won gold medals in the senior girls 100, 200 and 400m with respective times of 12.16s, 25.24s and 56.24s.

At the Australia champs, Hulls, a Hastings Athletics Club clubmate of Palmer, won silver in the under-20 200m in 24.06s and bronze in the under 20 100m in 11.92s. She also finished seventh in the open 200m when she stopped the clock at 24.54s.

Expect more to be heard about Hulls' and Palmer's performances on the international stage in future.