Athletics: Heats help Otago sprinter warm up for world champs

Otago sprinter Andrea Miller kept herself sharp for this month's world athletics championships in Berlin by competing in two meetings in the northern hemisphere last week.

She was third in her heat of the 100m hurdles in Loughborough, England, in 13.63sec and second in her heat at the Belgium national championships in 13.56sec. She did not start in the final of either event.

Miller (27) displayed her big-match temperament by finishing third in the 100m hurdles at the World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia, last month.

She clocked 13.13sec in the final to finish behind Nevin Yanit (Turkey, 12.89sec) and Sonata Tamosaityte (Lithuania, 13.10sec).

Miller was added to the New Zealand world championship team after breaking her own New Zealand 100m hurdles record in Geneva in June with a time of 13.10sec. It was a personal-best time by 0.02sec.

It bettered the B qualifying standard of 13.11sec for the Berlin world championships. The A standard is 12.96sec.

Marathon runner Shireen Crumpton (38) is the other Otago athlete competing at the Berlin event, from August 15 to 23.

She heads the women's world cup marathon team that also includes Mary Davies and Fiona Docherty.

Crumpton won the Gold Coast marathon in July last year in 2hr 38min 16sec. Davies qualified with her marathon debut in Vienna in April in 2hr 42min 39sec and Docherty with her 2hr 42min 11sec in Ottawa in May.

Michael Aish, the other marathon runner in the team, won the Christchurch marathon in 2hr 18min 18sec and has a best time of 2hr 13min 21sec, set when he won last year's Phoenix marathon.

Olympic shot put champion Valerie Vili will defend the title she won in Osaka in 2007.

Vili (24) was fifth in her first world championships in Paris in 2003, third in Helsinki 2005 and first in Osaka.

She has the seven best performances in the world this year and leads the world rankings with her New Zealand national record of 20.69m, set in Rio de Janeiro in May. The next best shot putter in the world this year is Anna Avdeeva (Russia) with 20.07m.

Kimberley Smith was 15th in the 10,000m in Helsinki in 2005 and improved to fifth in Osaka. In London last month Smith ran a fast 5000m, ranking her 16th in the world this year.

Three athletes originally named for the championships - Adrian Blincoe (5000m), James Dolphin (200m) and Rebecca Wardell (heptathlon) - have not been included in the final team because they have not reached the required standard.

Nick Willis, originally named in the 1500m, withdrew to allow time for a full recovery from hip surgery earlier this year.

• Another Otago athlete competing overseas at the moment is Andrew Moore, who finished third in a 400m race in Belgium in 47.49sec.

Former Otago middle-distance runner Richard Olsen, also competing out of the New Zealand base in Belgium, finished sixth in the 800m in 1min 52.92sec and fifth in the 1500m in 3min 49.75sec at two meetings in that country.

New Zealand team for world champs in Berlin:

- Michael Aish (Overseas-based), marathon.
- Stuart Farquhar (Hamilton) javelin.
- Brent Newdick (Auckland), decathlon.
- Shireen Crumpton (Otago), marathon.
- Mary Davies (Overseas-based), marathon.
- Fiona Docherty (Overseas-based), marathon.
- Nikki Hamblin (Cambridge), 800m, 1500m.
- Andrea Miller (Otago), 100m hurdles.
- Kimberley Smith (Overseas-based), 5000m, 10,000m.
- Valerie Vili (Auckland), shot put.
- Monique Williams (Tokoroa), 200m, 400m.