Hayden Meikle counts down the 150 greatest moments in Otago sport.
No 142: Chris Donaldson makes two finals (1998)
In the heat of Malaysia at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, Chris Donaldson proved he belonged with the best.
Donaldson unexpectedly reached the final of both events, running eight tough races in the space of four humid days in Kuala Lumpur.
He finished seventh in each event, clocking 10.19sec for the 100m and 20.62sec for the 200m.
Donaldson (23 at the time) had not been ranked in the top 10 in the Commonwealth going into the Games, but his performances lifted him into the top tier of New Zealand's great sprinters.
"I was a happy man. I had the time of my life," Donaldson said on his return to Dunedin.
Two years earlier, in Atlanta, Donaldson had become the first New Zealander to contest the 100m-200m double in 40 years.
In 1997, he became the first New Zealand sprinter to reach a world championships semifinal.
Donaldson withdrew from the 2000 Olympics with injury, missed qualifying for the 2002 Commonwealth Games and was part of the relay team at the 2006 Games in Melbourne.
He later tried out for the New Zealand bobsled team.
