Elliott pips Bing in 400m thriller at athletics national champs

Rosie Elliott
Photo: athletics.org.nz

Canterbury athlete Rosie Elliott bagged a second gold medal on the final day of the national athletics championships after beating Portia Bing in the women’s 400m final.

The 25-year-old sprinter stopped the clock in 52.39 seconds to record the second fastest time of her career and finish 0.70sec clear of Bing, the national 400m hurdles champion, in a compelling encounter.

Elliott adopted an aggressive strategy and while the final 40m was a struggle she was pleased with her efforts and delighted to bank a second successive national 400m title.

“We were trying something new in this race, to go out hard and in a PB time for the 300m. I think I did that, but I really felt in the last 40 or 50 metres. I could hear Portia coming, she is scary woman. Portia is the record holder in the 400m hurdles, so should I have finished second to her it would not be something to be disgruntled about.

“I wasn’t sure I would make it to the line. There was a moment I blinked, and I didn’t think I’d be able to open my eyes open again. I was still shooting for that sub-52 second time and New Zealand record time, but once I’ve gathered my thoughts, I will have learned a lot from today.”

New Zealand middle-distance star Sam Tanner gave a demonstration of his class to canter to his third national senior men’s 1500m title.

Happy to lope along at the back for what as a casual first 800m within the space of 100m Tanner advanced from the back to the front and just metres before the bell launched a vicious kick for home and rapidly opened a huge lead.

Tanner would not be caught and even could turn off the after burners to cruise home to the gold medal in 3min 53.03sec to finish 1.02sec clear of Eric Speakman, who picked up a ninth national track silver medal of his career.

“I love racing nationals with the boys, the camaraderie in the call room is awesome so that’s what makes it special for me. The plan was to be at the back at 800m, move up the field and then hit it hard with 400m to go,” Tanner said.

“I was planning on running sub-50 on the last lap but with 200m to go, I thought I pulled enough lead so backed off. It is awesome to win that title and follow all the great names before me.”

The final individual track event of the championship saw Laura Nagel complete a memorable 1500m and 5000m double for a second successive season after adding the latter title in an unexpected personal best of 4:13.25.

Josh Hawkins lowered his New Zealand resident record, clocking a blistering 13.94sec to claim an eighth national title in the men’s 110m hurdles.

Dhruv Rodrigues Chico announced himself to the New Zealand athletics community with a dramatic late dash for the line to secure the national senior men’s 200m title in a sharp 21.10sec.

Chico was born in India but left at the age of two to spend the next eight years of his life in Auckland before moving to Melbourne, where he still resides.

Wanting to align himself to New Zealand this season he set a PB of 20.96sec in Canberra and impressed in the 100m at Newtown Park when winning silver behind Tiaan Whelpton.

In the field, Alice Taylor produced a 3cm personal best to secure the national senior high jump title in an absorbing competition to win with a leap of 1.87m.

Lauren Bruce set a season’s best mark of 67.83m to defend her national women’s hammer ahead of her Canterbury team-mate Lexi Maples.

The defending champion in the men’s javelin Jared Neighbours had to settle for silver with 60.64m as 18-year-old Douw Botes, an age group champion from 12 months ago, struck gold with a best of 63.62m.

– RNZ