05.05.2008

Harradine throws national record out of the park

Discus thrower Benn Harradine has gone one step closer to boarding the plane to Beijing, after producing an Olympic A-qualifying and Australian record-breaking throw of 65.37m at the Chula Vista meet in California on Friday night.

Tantalising close to the ‘A’ mark (64.50m) all domestic season, Harradine re-wrote the record books on his second attempt to post his first ‘A’ and break the previous national record of 65.06m, set by Wayne Martin almost 30 years ago.

Defeating Americans Ian Waltz and Jarred Rome, the 25-year-old finished second to last year’s world champion Gerd Kanter of Estonia (70.38m).

The Victorian's effort was the seventh best in this world this year.

Harradine will next take to the circle on Thursday at the Salina's meet in California.

Meanwhile across the Atlantic, training partner Benita Johnson kept the good news coming for Australia, storming to a convincing victory in the Great Edinburgh Run.

Johnson, who was out of action for four months with a knee injury, sent out a sound warning to her rivals, completing the 10km course in 32min 20 seconds to win by a 13-second margin.

Challenged by Kenya's Rose Cheruiyot for the majority of the race, Johnson made a decisive move at the half way point, pulling away from the former Amsterdam marathon winner on a steep hill.

Cheruiyot crossing the line second in 32:33, with Aniko Kalovics of Hungary third.

"After my injury, I'm so happy to win here," a delighted Johnson told the IAAF's David Martin.

"I put in a lot of hard work before Edinburgh and, over what was a hard course, I'm delighted to see the benefits of that.

"This is a great win for me and, after being out injured for so long when I got very frustrated, this tells me I now have a strong base to build upon towards the Olympics.

"My performance clearly showed I've got strength and I am going forward after being out for so long."

"There's always a doubt and you do question whether you can get back. But I always believed in myself and felt because of all the hard work I have put in, I had the ability."

Johnson, will now head to Flagstaff, Arizona for a stint of altitude training, before attempting to capture her third Freihofer’s 5km crown in New York on May 31.

Her first appearance on the track (10,000m) is scheduled for the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava on June 12.

In other results on the weekend, Patrick Johnson crossed the line in third place in the 200m, stopping the clock in 20.84 (-0.3) at a meet in Shizuko, Japan. 400m hurdlers Lauren Boden (58.07) and Brendan Cole (50.95) finished third and sixth respectively.

At the Houston International, Jacinta Boyd commenced her US campaign in fine style, securing the win with a 6.59m (+3.2) jump, whilst Fabrice LaPierre launched himself eight metres (+2.9), to make it a double Aussie victory.