Athletics: 'Average' Vili still wins title with ease

Olympic shot put champion Valerie Vili was distinctly underwhelmed with her performance in winning the New Zealand title for a ninth consecutive time at the national championships in Wellington yesterday.

A consistent series of throws, culminating in her last-round best effort of 19.81m, saw Vili win by nearly 3m from Tonga's Ana Pouhila with 16.86m. However, Vili, who will defend her world championship in Berlin in August, was less than satisfied with her work in warm, sunny conditions at Newtown Park.

"It was OK ... it was an average performance really," she said. "Whenever I compete, I always try to come out and do a good performance. I was aiming for 20m but it didn't happen."

It was Vili's last competition of the New Zealand season, her fifth in six weeks, and followed last week's 20.22m winning effort at the Australian Championships in Brisbane.

Despite the slightly anti-climactic finish to her season, Vili was pleased to see a continuing trend of overall improvement in her performances.

"This year, we've started off better than last year, so we know we are improving every year - not by a hell of a lot but we are improving."

For now, Vili said, it was back to the drawing board as she and coach Kirsten Hellier continue the build-up to the world championships.

"I'll be training like mad, back into the hard stuff. Kirsten will be pushing pretty hard and I've got competitions in Brazil in May that I'm aiming for."

Another thrower looking to make the team to Berlin is discus thrower Beatrice Faumuina, who has already beaten the B standard of 58m and is eyeing the 62m A qualifying standard.

Faumuina, who yesterday won her 16th national title with a fourth-round 60.03m, did not look comfortable in the opening rounds. She sprayed her first three throws well out of sector, struggling to come to terms with a tricky swirling Wellington sidewind.

"I had a nightmare, to be honest - it was a bit of a shocker. Thank goodness I pulled out of it and actually came out with a season's best over 60m," she said. "But I did it hard - it would have been kind of nice to have that in the first three rounds."

Another thrower rejuvenated after last year's Olympics, Waikato javelin thrower Stuart Farquhar is approaching the world championships with quiet confidence. Farquhar yesterday won his ninth national title in 10 years, putting together a solid series of throws culminating in his winning fifth-round effort of 78.65m, nearly 8m ahead of Johan Smalberger.

Farquhar, who threw 76.14m at Beijing to finish 20th, showed the benefit of an extended break following the Olympics, although he was less than satisfied with his winning effort.

"I'm pretty happy, but I was hoping for a little bit more," he said. "I didn't quite have the feeling out there but I felt fresh and powerful which is the main thing."

In a low-key day on the track, Tokoroa-born sprinter Monique Williams completed the second leg of her sprint treble after blitzing the 100m field in a personal best 11.64s yesterday. Williams was in a class of her own over 400m, dominating the race from the gun to win in 54.08s, 2s clear of Louise Jones of Counties Manukau.

Williams, who qualified for the world championships late last month when she bettered Kim Robertson's 31-year-old national 200m record with 22.98s, has also come close to Robertson's 51.60s national 400m mark, running 52.20s earlier this month.

"I wanted the 200m record first, I never really thought about the 400m. But it's definitely within my reach, I'm pretty stoked with being not that far off it."

- NZPA