Sprinter Edward Osei-Nketia commits to Athletics New Zealand

Edward Osei-Nketia has committed to represent New Zealand on the track. Photo / Photosport

Any potential switch from athletics to rugby will be put on hold for Edward Osei-Nketia, with the young sprinter committing to Athletics New Zealand.

The 18 year old has been heavily courted by a number of codes including rugby, league and AFL due to his sheer pace, and has been open in his desire to one day be an All Black.

At 190cm and 95kg, Osei-Nketia is touted as a top future prospect in arguably any sport he puts time and effort into, and the son of New Zealand 100m record holder Gus Nketia had multiple alluring offers to weigh up, but opted to run for New Zealand.

Having lived in Australia for the past two years, there was also the possibility he could look to align himself with Australia going forward. However talking to Radio Sport, Gus Nketia said it wasn't a hard decision to make.

"Edward was born in New Zealand and loves New Zealand, so it wasn't a hard decision to make.

"If someone's going to break my record it would be good for Eddie to do that. That would be a good story to tell."

Nketia said he and Edward had a meeting with Athletics New Zealand to discuss how they were going to be able to help Edward get the best out of his abilities and was pleased with what the organisation said.

It's understood in addition to an offer from a New Zealand Super Rugby side, there are also six-figure offers from the NRL and AFL for him to switch codes — despite Osei-Nketia having never played Australian rules or league.

Nketia said the decision wasn't made based on the monetary value of the offers in front of them.

"It's not all about the money," Nketia said. "You know with sport you have to be comfortable with yourself and what makes you happy. If you go with just the money, you can get to the point where you lose the interest in it and that's just one of the reasons for this decision.

"Edward was happy to be representing New Zealand, so we decided to go with that."

At 18, there's no reason Osei-Nketia wouldn't be able to pursue a future in rugby or a similar code in the future, but with the Olympic Games on the horizon, his focus would be on trying to qualify to represent New Zealand in Japan in 2020.

"I believe Edward can still go faster than what he's done now," Nketia said, "so we just want him to run as fast as he can before he decides if he wants to change sports.