KEY POINTS:
Beatrice Faumuina secured her ticket to the Beijing Olympic Games with a winning throw of 61.73m at the New Zealand championships at Mt Smart Stadium last night.
The 33-year-old eclipsed the selection standard of 61m in the opening round before embarking on one of her best series of throws for some time.
All her throws, apart from the last round, were over 59m, with the second round out to 60.75m.
"It was nice to get it out in the first round and I look at my series, it's not too bad, it's probably the best I've done in a couple of years, which is good," said a beaming Faumuina.
"I've got a lot of work to do, we've changed a lot of the technical aspects of the throw and we only started it at the end of Christmas so if [61.73m] is what that work can produce after three months I'm looking forward to the next couple of months."
Faumuina's next competition is in Osaka on May 10. The 1997 world champion said there was no pressure on her when she stepped out for her 15th New Zealand title last night.
"The word pressure was used by one of our selectors, but not me, so I answered that tonight."
Convenor of the New Zealand selectors John Bowden said it was great to see Faumuina throwing well again. "It shows what we all know - that she can perform," he said.
Her coach, Ross Dallow, 1956 New Zealand junior discus throw champion, said Faumuina has been determined to come back after her disappointment at the world championships in Osaka last year.
Faumuina has attended six world championships, four Commonwealth Games and three Olympic Games. She won two Commonwealth gold medals - in 1998 at Kuala Lumpur, and in Manchester in 2002 - the world title in 1997 in Athens and the world cup title in Madrid in 2002.
Meanwhile Stuart Farquhar took out his eighth New Zealand javelin throw title with a throw of 78.21m, beating Australian Josh Robinson, who was out to 75.94m.
In perfect conditions Farquhar was well short of the Beijing qualifying distance, which he achieved in Canberra in January with 83.23m.
"I only took the first three rounds as on the other three my leg started to pull up a bit sore and I wasn't really trying to push it after that," he said.
The 26-year-old said he changed his training in the past week.
"I'm in a different sort of phase building up for competitions in May in Beijing and Thailand.
"I'm back to scratch now getting some heavy training and getting the numbers behind me before the competitions in May."
Farquhar attended the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, but did not qualify for the final. He finished seventh in 2006 at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.
Monique Williams added the women's 400m title in 54.77s, to the 100m won on Friday evening, going one step closer to achieving the sprint treble for the second year in a row. She will contest the 200m final this afternoon.
