Athletics: Gill falls short in world record attempt

A 17-year-old falling one centimetre short of his own national record would not normally be cause for disappointment. But there is very little that is normal about Jacko Gill. Almost every time Gill steps into the shot put circle, spectators expect to watch records tumble. That was again the case at the New Zealand track and field championships in Waitakere today, where Gill was targeting not only his own under 20 record, but also the world mark. Unfortunately for the sizeable crowd gathered, Gill fell agonisingly short of his personal best throw of 22.31m and never approached the 6kg world record of 22.73m, held by senior world champion David Stohl of Germany. Gill peppered the line marking his national record with each of his six throws, and his second of 22.30m was, of course, more than enough to claim gold in the event. But there was still an overriding sense of dismay among the masses; indeed, an audible groan rose from the crowd when Gill's last throw hit the dirt short of the mark. That feeling was manufactured by both Gill's reputation and his warm-up. Gill's deeds with the shot at such a tender age have taken on an almost mythical status, and that looked to set to continue today when the teenager easily cleared the line indicating his national record before the real competition began. Optimistic organisers only marked the world record after the warm-up was complete, so it was impossible to judge whether the throw was world record-calibre. But, with the naked eye, it certainly seemed to sail at least a foot clear of 22.31m. That was to be as good as it got for Gill, though, with the event's timing tipped as the reason he fell a little short today. "I'm training pretty hard with weights so I'm not fresh at all," Gill said. "This is the furthest throw I've done under the workload. So, in a way, it's kind of a PB for the work that I've done." Gill described himself as "pretty happy" with his efforts but remains singularly focused on breaking the three-year-old record, even though he still has a couple of years in which to do it. "I think I've thrown that far in training. But it was not my place to do it today. For the world under 20 champs (at Barcelona in July), I'll be ready. "When I freshen up I definitely think I can get a lot over it." That confidence also extends to the London Olympics, where Gill has qualified and will be competing against the men with the heavier shot. "I'm probably going to take the 6kg more seriously for now, then concentrate on the seven." The team for the Games will be announced tomorrow, with another couple of athletes with Olympic ambition under the spotlight today. Twenty-year-old Liz Lamb easily took out the women's high jump, but she was visibly upset following the event after failing to approach neither her personal best of 1.90m nor the Olympic qualifying standard of 1.95m. Lamb cleared 1.82m on her third attempt, but clipped the bar on each of her jumps at 1.86m to leave her with some work to do to earn a seat on the plane to London. Commonwealth Games silver medallist Nikki Hamblin was due to race today's 800m but pulled out to concentrate on tomorrow's 1500m, an event for which she has already surpassed the Olympic qualifying time. However, tomorrow's race will be an important one for Hamblin, as she needs to show the national selectors she has put a troublesome Archilles injury behind her.