Athletics: Newdick in the shape of his life

Brent Newdick. Photo / Chris Skelton

Decathlete Brent Newdick considers himself in the best shape of his life and is targeting a top-10 finish when the IAAF world athletics championships start in Daegu, Korea, on Saturday.

His last event in Asia was October's Commonwealth Games in Delhi, where he won a silver medal. That, combined with his fitness and excellent form in training, has provided the North Harbour Bays athlete with plenty of confidence and he's hopeful of posting a personal best.

Newdick, 26, is one of eight New Zealand athletes competing in Korea. Shot putter Valerie Adams, middle distance runners Nick Willis, Nikki Hamblin, Jake Robertson, Adrian Blincoe, 50km race walker Quentin Rew and javelin thrower Stuart Farquhar are the others wearing the black singlet.

Newdick is the first of the Kiwis to start competing when his first event the 100m starts on Saturday afternoon (NZT) and he's excited about the prospect.

"Preparation has gone to plan, everything is in good order and training has gone well,'' he said from Daegu.

"I'm in the best shape of my life and I'm definitely looking for a new personal best and to make sure I challenge that top 10. A top-10 finish would be the ultimate goal for this season, to set myself up for the Olympics next year.

"I've done a couple of meets that have been the biggest throughout Europe and I've come in the top 10 in some of those so it's definitely realistic and it's a good, hard goal as well so I'm looking forward to it.''

Newdick said he wasn't in good form in any particular event, rather his overall consistency was the biggest factor in his upbeat state. He's achieved the B qualifying standard for London, which should guarantee him a place in the Olympic team.

"The main thing is that everything is going well and it's consistent all over the board so, on any day, it could be any event that's a personal best,'' he said. "But the main thing is I've got that confidence in the consistency there so that's why I think I can get a new personal best score.''

Olympic decathlon champion Bryan Clay, from the United States, has withdrawn with a minor knee injury, but the Americans are still expected to dominate the event through Trey Hardee and Ashton Eaton.

Newdick's best score is 8114 points, which he achieved in Australia in May. His score in Delhi was 8096.

His steady improvement is encouraging and he is sure an unfamiliar venue and conditions won't be a factor for him this weekend.

"I've never been to Korea before. The only time I have competed in Asia before was at the Commonwealth Games but already I've noticed it's pretty similar to our base camp in Hong Kong so training went really well there and I'm sure it's going to be pretty similar here. I've never been too fussed on the differences in weather - you just have to get on with it regardless.''

Newdick, the five-time national champion, will travel back to New Zealand following the championships and build towards the domestic season before heading into another European campaign heading into the London Olympics.

"It's almost identical to what I did this year and everything seems to be working so far, so I think we're on to a good thing.''

Olympic and world champion Adams will be hoping to maintain her unbeaten run in 2011 and comes into the competition following a dominant performance over arch-rival Nadezhda Ostapchuk of Belarus in their last contest - the Diamond League meeting at Crystal Palace in London a fortnight ago.

Willis, the Olympic silver medallist, has been in good form recently and is also likely to feature prominently.

New Zealand team for the IAAF Athletics World Championships in Daegu, South Korea: Adrian Blincoe (5000m), Jake Robertson (5000m), Stuart Farquhar (javelin), Brent Newdick (decathlon), Quentin Rew (50km race walk), Nick Willis (1500m), Valerie Adams (shot put), Nikki Hamblin (800m and 1500m).