New Zealand’s largest athletics team is in Paris brimming with confidence for the world’s greatest spectacle.
Zoe Hobbs begins her campaign in the 100m heats at Stade de France on Friday, and Kiwi fans should be genuinely excited to see Oceania’s fastest woman, who has emerged as a world-class sprinter over the past two years.
Hobbs boasts a sixth placing at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, a subsequent world championships semifinal berth and a fourth in the 60m at this year’s world indoor championships, and her credentials are quickly rivalling those of Doreen Porter in the 1960s.
Although a repeat of Arthur Porritt’s medal heroics in Paris 100 years ago seems highly improbable in a field including Shericka Jackson (Jamaica), Julien Alfred (St Lucia) and 100m world champion Sha’Carri Richardson (USA), Hobbs will be aiming to be the first New Zealander to make a sprint final since the 1924 bronze medallist.
Our leading contender is arguably Hamish Kerr, the high jumper who improved his own national record to 2.36m in February during his victory at the world indoor championships.
As he pursues New Zealand’s first medal in the event, the Dunedin-born athlete faces an intriguing battle against high flying Americans Shelby McEwen and JuVaughn Harrison, alongside reigning Olympic champions Mutaz Barshim (Qatar) and Gianmarco Tamberi (Italy). The latter pair famously opted to share the gold medal at the Tokyo Games and always seem to find form in the big moments.
Tom Walsh, the veteran of two Olympic Games and three Commonwealth Games and a two-time world champion, is already a shot put great.
This is likely to be the Timaru titan’s last Olympics at the peak of his powers.
With the men’s field deeper than ever, a good performance from Walsh will no longer guarantee him a medal, but expect him to be in the mix when the competition heats up.
Americans Joe Kovacs, Payton Otterdahl and world record-holder Ryan Crouser have set the standard along with European champion Leonardo Fabbri (Italy), but Walsh and New Zealand team-mate Jacko Gill usually save their best for the biggest stages.
The Kiwi duo will play a strong part in a final on Sunday morning that could be the greatest in Olympic history.
Eliza McCartney and Geordie Beamish are nearing cult hero status in New Zealand athletics.
McCartney arrives in Paris in her best form since a scintillating period up until 2018 which propelled the pole vaulter to an Oceania record of 4.94m and a memorable bronze medal at the Rio Olympics.
Beamish, on the other hand, has endured a miserly outdoor season thus far, competing in his favoured 3000m steeplechase twice all year.
Famous for what might be the world’s most lethal finishing kick, the Colorado-based athlete can never be ruled out, even if he is sitting further back on the final lap.
Presuming they arrive fit and healthy, both athletes have the X-factor to do something special.
With Kiwis gracing many of the elite events in Paris, it can become easy to get bogged down following only the hallowed black singlet.
Yet, athletics at the Olympics is a truly global affair in which narratives from less celebrated events frequently come to epitomise the entire programme.
Keep a particular eye on the women’s 400m hurdles alongside the men’s 800m and pole vault for world records, while the women’s 1500m and men’s discus promise to be epic encounters.
