Athletics Otago life member Raylene Bates confirmed yesterday that all the medallists from the Delhi Commonwealth Games would be competing at the Caledonian Ground on March 25-27.
"It's exciting for the sport in Dunedin to have the best athletes competing in our championships," Bates said yesterday.
The most prominent of the athletes competing in Dunedin are Olympic medallists Valerie Adams (Auckland) and NickWillis (Wellington).
Adams won a gold medal in the shot put at the Beijing Olympics and followed it up with another gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.
Willis was a silver medallist in the 1500m at Beijing and a bronze medallist in Delhi.
New Zealand athletics is on gaining strength, demonstrated by eight medals at the Commonwealth Games.
It was New Zealands's most successful Commonwealth Games athletics team since Auckland in 1990 and the team brought home the highest number of medals from an away Games since Kingston, Jamaica, in 1966.
One of the most impressive performances was from middle-distance runner Nikki Hamblin (Auckland), who won silver medals in the 800m and 1500m in Delhi.
The other Delhi medallists were Stuart Farquhar (javelin), Brent Newdick (decathlon) and Jessica Hamill (AWD F34 shot put).
Former Otago athlete Andrea Miller (Auckland) will be keen to regain her New Zealand 100m hurdles title after being injured at the time of last year's championships.
Talented shot putter Jacko Gill (Auckland) is entered for the men's 16 and men's 19 shot put. He will be attempting to break his own world record for under 16, 17 and 18-year-olds.
His best distance is the 23.86m he threw at the New Zealand secondary schools championships at Hastings in December.
At the world junior championships in Moncton, Canada, last year Gill (then aged 15) won a gold medal in the shot put and became the youngest male junior champion.
Olympic champion and world record-holder Usain Bolt (Jamacia) was the previous youngest.
The New Zealand championships will be held at the Caledonian Ground from March 25-27.
NZ athletics
Delhi medallists
• Gold: Valerie Adams (shot put).
• Silver: Nikki Hamblin (800m, 1500m), Stuart Farquhar (javelin), Brent Newdick (decathlon), Jessica Hamill (AWD shot put).
• Bronze: Andrea Miller (100m hurdles), Nick Willis (1500m).
