Jonathan Brownjohn (Taranaki) broke two New Zealand records at a quick fire meeting at the Caledonian Ground yesterday.
Brownjohn (18), who was born with amniotic band syndrome, leaving him with no left foot, short left hand fingers and a recessed jaw, broke the open men's F44 high jump record of 1.71m held by Atlanta Paralympic medallist John Dowell since 1997. Yesterday, Brownjohn bettered this mark by 2cm.
Brownjohn also smashed another national record held by Dowell, the T44 100m (13.30sec), set in 2003. He lowered the mark yesterday to 13.24sec.
Otago has plenty to look forward to from Brownjohn over the next three years as he has come to Dunedin to attend a personal training course at Otago Polytechnic.
Over the past three years he has set multiple national secondary schools records, in high jump, long jump, shot put, 100m and 200m.
Instead of attending the national championships in Wellington next weekend, he will compete in the Queensland championships, in order to gain an international classification and a pathway to the Rio de Janiero Olympic Games.
Several athletes from the Otago squad for the national championships next weekend were having a final hit out before their departure.
Among those favoured to feature in the medals were hammer throwers Todd Bates, Bradley Tarleton, Mayce Ballantyne and Libby Jones, who all featured yesterday.
Tarleton (17) will contest the junior hammer competition on Friday night ranked second behind Max Bloxham (Auckland) and step into the senior arena on Saturday, where competition is expected to be intense. Tarleton threw 47.91cm to win the junior men's competition yesterday.
Bates (20), who won the open men's grade with a throw of 51.25m, expects ''a really good bunch of throwers in the 50 60m range'' in the battle for the senior title, and is looking forward to the challenge.
Ballantyne won the open women's hammer yesterday with 41.50m, with Jones second, throwing 37.21m.
Jones' strength is discus, where she is favoured to medal at the weekend. She won yesterday's competition with a throw of 37.08m. Jones will also compete for the national shot put title on Saturday.
