Geordie Beamish in his moment of golden glory after winning the 3000m steeplechase final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. Photo / Getty Images
Geordie Beamish in his moment of golden glory after winning the 3000m steeplechase final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. Photo / Getty Images
Moves are afoot to see if US-based athletics idol Geordie Beamish can return to his home town for Hastings’ Potts Classic next year.
It follows the near 29-year-old’s win in the World Athletics Championships 3000m final in Tokyo early on Tuesday morning (NZT).
Classic meeting director and former Commonwealth Gamesathlete, Richard Potts, whose January 17 competition in Hastings will include the first New Zealand Short track meeting with such events as the 60m sprints, is looking at how the meeting could accommodate Beamish, who was born in Hastings, grew-up on a Hawke’s Bay farm and went to Lindisfarne College before his athletics career started to blossom at Whanganui Collegiate.
The Potts Classic is the first meeting on the Athletics New Zealand Summer Circuit, and Potts believes there will be big attempts to get Beamish to the Whanganui Classic, seven days after the Potts Classic, including the New Zealand one-mile championships, and opening the chance for Beamish to make it to Hastings as well.
The next-best result was possibly Beamish’s World indoor championships 1500m gold medal last year.
It was also New Zealand’s first track gold medal in the history of the World Athletics Championships, which were first held in 1983, and was widely applauded by other New Zealand athletics stars, including Olympics 1500m medalist Nick Willis.
Recovering from a fall in the heats, when he copped a foot in the face, Beamish’s already famous kick-finish was sparked entering the last 300m, when he was second to last.
He flew home over the last 150m, making his move just after the water pit to make up more than 10m of ground on race favourite and leader and two-time Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali, of Morocco to win in the last metre.
He clocked 8m 33.88s and was ranked No 31 on 2025 world rankings this year, with a season’s best of 8m 13.86s. El Bakkali, who entered with a 2025 best of 8m 0.7s, clocked 8m 33.95s.
Geordie Beamish after winning the 1500m as an Under-20 runner at the Potts Classic in Hastings 10 years ago. Photo / NZME
In about 14 minutes on his feet at a media conference after the race, Beamish, son of farmers Simon and Josi Beamish, spoke of how he had come back from the disappointment of failing to make the final at the Paris Olympics last year, struggling even to mention the words “Paris” or “Olympics” without emotion.
“It’s unreal. I never thought I’d be world champion once ... to do it again is pretty unbelievable,” he said.
“I’ve just been enjoying the last hour or so, it was a special moment in the stadium.”
El Bakkali eventually joined Beamish in his victory lap before both runners took a dip in the water pit.
“He’s a legend in the sport,” Beamish said after his win. “Probably made the steeplechase what it is over the last five to six years. He’s got four in a row, I’m never going to win as many races as he has, I’m never going to run as fast as he has, I’m sure, but that’s fine by me. It was special to share a victory lap with him. He’s a legend.
“I made headlines for all the wrong reasons two days ago,” Beamish said of the photo going viral of a competitor’s foot on his head after he fell in the heats.
“Made some new headlines today,” he said. “Push those ones out. I fell with a lap to go but got up and felt really comfortable coming by everyone still and realised that the fitness – that was a bit of a question mark having not raced for a long time – was as good if not better than what I thought it was going to be, so maybe a blessing in disguise.”
The possibility of him running in Hastings would depend entirely on the athlete’s programme, the opposition available and other factors.
But other top New Zealand athletes are possible starters, including Olympic Games high jump champion Hamish Kerr and shot putters Tom Walsh, Jacko Gill and Hastings’ Nick Palmer, who was 15th at his first senior World championships in Tokyo this week but did not qualify for the final in which former champion Walsh was 4th.
Hawke’s Bay does have other up-and-coming steeplechase athletes, and has produced national champions in the past, and Potts hopes the gold medal success will encourage others into athletics.
Doug Laing has been a reporter more than 52 years, including more than 40 in Hawke’s Bay. He has covered most aspects of news, including sports.
