KEY POINTS:
It is indeed fortunate that Valerie Vili has a broad set of shoulders.
An imposing physique, forged to a fierce competitive streak, has enabled Vili to force her way into the very top bracket of shot putters on the world stage.
And it will come in extra handy this week in Japan where the Aucklander carries the major expectations of a small New Zealand team at the world athletics championships.
At just 22, Vili is widely considered country's only genuine medal prospect at the championships starting in Osaka on Saturday, but that weight of expectancy sits easily with her.
She refuses to consider it a burden but nor does she covet a standing which sets her apart from her nine teammates.
"People talk about it, it happens, but I don't necessarily go along with it," she said of the expectations of others ahead of her competition on Sunday.
"All I can do is focus on what I need to do, and I try not to worry about anything else.
"I'm there to throw my hardest and do my best to win a medal for New Zealand. That's always my goal."
She enters the championships in form, officially ranked No 2 in the world and with a proven pedigree behind her, as evidenced by fifth and third placings at the championships in 2003 and 2005.
Vili tuned up for Osaka by posting a throw of 20.03m in competition in Cairns last week, the third heave in excess of 20m in her career and the third best recorded in the world this year.
It came during a spell of training in the north Queensland city, where most of the New Zealand team spent time in a move designed to help them adjust to testing conditions in Osaka where temperatures are expected to settle between 30degC to 38degC.
That performance told Vili she is in fine shape for the championships, which come in a year blighted early by a shoulder injury.
The Commonwealth Games champion had surgery last December to have several centimetres of bone shaved from her right shoulder socket.
She did not lift a put for close to two months and even then resumed training with a 1kg ball, one-quarter the normal weight.
The surgery and subsequent rehabilitation meant three months passed before Vili fully brought her trademark intensity to the training ground and led to her lightest diet of competition for three to four years.
But Vili has left those frustrations in the past.
"I'm feeling good, I'm happy with where I am and with how my training has gone. All in all everything is sweet."
Her main rivals in Japan are Nadezhda Ostapchuk, of Belarus, and German Petra Lammert, who have both topped 20m in 2007 while another Belarussian, Natalya Khoroneko, is rated the world No 1 by virtue of winning last year's IAAF world final in Stuttgart where Vili finished second.
Her coach, Kirsten Hellier, who manipulated Vili's training regime this year to cater for her delayed start, suggested Vili was well primed to deliver in Japan.
"She is looking really good and she is in a good mental space as well."
The first New Zealanders to see action in Osaka on Saturday will be Commonwealth Games gold medallist Nick Willis and Gareth Hyett in the 1500m heats.
Also in action that day will be the United States-based Kimberley Smith in the 10,000m.
Smith has the potential to surprise and is coming off a top season in which she set New Zealand record times over 3000m, 5000m and 10,000m.
James Dolphin will contest the 200m, Michael Aish the 10,000m, Tony Sargison the 50km race walk and Stuart Faruhar the javelin, while Nina Rillstone is set for the marathon and Beatrice Faumuina, the 1997 world champion, faces the qualifying round of the discus on Monday.
- NZPA
