Decathlete Aaron Booth got off to a very good start in his first major decathlon at the World University Games in Taipei.
Running 11.19 in the 100m, the Auckland combined event athlete was placed a handy sixth after the first event.
He followed that up with a personal best equalling
7.17m in the long jump, the second longest distance of the 18 decathletes.
Another personal best of 13.49m in the shot put saw Booth slip a few places, but a superb 2.01m high jump the second best height in the competition lifted him to first overall after four events.
In the final event of the first day the 20 year old Booth came up with yet another personal best in the 400m, recording 49.75.
Australian Kyle Cranston ran the fastest 400m at 48.99, and squeezed past the Kiwi to lead the decathlon after the first day by seven points, 4016 to 4009.
Booth will be delighted with his best ever first day with three personal best performances and will look forward to the second day with some confidence.
Sprinter Joseph Millar went very close to making the final of the 100m, finishing fifth in his semifinal in 10.35, just 0.04 behind fourth which would have been good enough to contest the final.
The Tauranga 24 year old, using the experience gained at the recent World Championships in London finished the 100m with a ranking of ninth and looks forward to his favoured 200m later in the programme.
Zoe Hobbs, hoping to qualify for the womens 100m final, finished eighth in her semifinal in 11.85, good enough for a final ranking of 14th, but not good enough to make the final.
Also in action on the second day of the championships were two young throwers who competed for New Zealand at the recent world championships in London.
Javelin thrower Ben Langton Burnell had the eighth longest throw of the 27 competitors with 75.57m to comfortably make the final.
Likewise, Julia Ratcliffe made the womens hammer final with a throw of 60.66m.
- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Athletics New Zealand
