The 400m heats saw traditional rivals Fiji and PNG get three each to the Women’s and Men’s Finals. In the Women’s 400m the outstanding athletes were PNG’s Betty Burua (55.86), Toea Wisil (56.91) and Salome Dell (57.49) and Fiji’s Dani Alakija (57.96), Suliano Gusuivalu (58.19) and Miriama Senokonoko (59.03). Others to the final were Peggy Paulmin (NCL) & Hereiti Bernardino (PYF). The Women’s 4 x 400m Relay looks to be a real treat.
In the Men’s 400m heats the outstanding qualifiers were - Nelson Stone (PNG – 48.26), Simon Thieury (PYF - 48.58), Beniamino Maravu (FIJ – 48.61), Ratutira Narara (FIJ – 48.68) and John Rivan (PNG – 48.83). Others to make it to the final were Niko Verekauta (FIJ), Wala Gime (PNG) and David Benjimen (VAN).
The sun came out in the lunch recess and warmer sunny conditions then prevailed - a welcome relief for the teams and spectators. Sadly it did not stay for the rest of the day, but it was pleasant while it lasted.
The afternoon session started with a very high quality, but small, field in the Women’s Javelin. Romina Ugatai (W&F), having recovered from her injury in the French National Championships, took on the mantle of favouritism, marginally ahead of NCL’s Linda Selui and Bina Ramesh. For five of the rounds Romina led the field, but with her last explosive throw Linda reached 57.32m to break Bina’s Games Record and win the gold. Romina had to settle for the silver medal (52.07m), and Bina increased her year’s best distance to 48.19m to come third. Linda’s throw was the best in France for 2011. Bina was farewelled at the end of the Javelin competition as this is her last Games. Pity she could not be awarded the bronze medal as there were only three in the competition and for all medals to be awarded there needed to be four or more in the contest. Inexplicable that NCL did not add a third thrower to their entries to secure the bronze. This competition was over in only 14 minutes. It is a real pity that there were not more in the competition to give us a real Pacific Games javelin experience. Hopefully the Men’s event tomorrow will last longer.
Since the 2007 Games, when the 3000m Steeplechase for Women was introduced, French Polynesia has prepared athletes for this event and they looked to be the best in the field. Not many results have been seen for the Steeple, so it is hard to know the ability of many in the race. The form guide played out and the favourite, Heiata Brinkfield, shadowed by her PYF team-mate, Astrid Montuclard, cleared out from the rest of the field after passing early leader Amy Atkinson from Guam. They finished in the gold and silver medal positions. Isabelle Oblet (NCL) finished third in11:53.96 - but the first two were under the old Games Record of 11:48.74, with Heiata improving the record to 11:07.55 and Astrid running 11:37.39. This event will gain in popularity when more countries are able to provide their athletes with the 76cm steeple barriers and water jump.
The 800m for Women looked to be a good race for PNG and this is what eventuated, repeating the medal sweep that they had in Apia in 2007. Salome Dell (2:13.21) won from Donna Koniel (2:16.80) and Cecilia Kumalalamene (2:20.00). Sereima Liku from Fiji recorded a time of 2:22.01 for fourth place. Salome Tabuatalei’s record of 2:11.12 from the 1995 Games still stands. Salome (who has run 2:03) seemed to be keeping energy reserves for the 400m, 1500m and 4 x 400m Relay. Winning is obviously more important than fast times. Salome was the defending champion.
Adrien Kela (NCL) was the strong favourite for the Men’s 800m, and true to form he won by a second from Arnold Sorina (VAN). Their times were 1:54.12 and 1:55.14 - slower than expected, but it was all about the medals. In a last gasp sprint to the line PNG’s Kevin Kapmatana (1:56.22) edged out Guam’s Derk Mandell (1:56.76) for the bronze. Derek broke his personal record that he set last week in Daegu. Others under 2 minutes were Veherney Babob (PNG – 1:56.85) and Varasiko Tomeru (FIJ-1:59.51).
Current form in the Women’s High Jump was not known. This event could have gone to anyone in the field. Early favouritism was with the most experienced of them all – Veronique Boyer (PYF) - but nobody was prepared to actually lay money on the outcome. Before eventually failing to clear 1.65m, Terani Faremiro (PYF) had a faultless record with first time clearances up to 1.63m – winning the gold by 2cm. Nellie Leslie (PNG) had mixed success as the height increased, but did manage to clear 1.61m to give her the silver medal and relegate Veronique (1.57m) to the bronze medal position.
The Semi-Finals for the Men 100m produced three new Caledonians, three Papua New Guineans one ni-Vanuatu and one Fijian for the final. Banuve Tabakaucoro (FIJ) confirmed his favouritism for the gold with the only clocking under 11 seconds – 10.91 and looking relaxed and easy. It has been conventional wisdom all year that the Fiji Men’s 4 x 100m Team would win the gold medal, but the depth of sprinting in NCL & PNG must give hope to both countries. But we had the 100m Final to watch first.
The Women’s 100m was convincingly won by Toea Wisil. After her 4th position in the Commonwealth Games 100m Final last year, she was not expected to be seriously challenged, even though her form was not as good as we all expected. Her winning time of 11.96 was well clear of the others in the field – Paulini Korowaqa (FIJ – 12.31), Sisilia Seavula (FIJ – 12.36), Venessa Waro (PNG – 12.40), Helen Philemon (PNG – 12.51), and the three sprinters who got NR’s at the World Championships in Daegu last week - Lovelite Detenamo (NRU – 12.60), Patricia Taea (COK – 12.60) & Pollara Cobb (GUM - 12.80). We are now well set-up for the usual FIJ versus PNG Relay clash on Friday.
Who else was going to win the Men’s 100m Final but Fiji’s Banuve Tabakaucoro. He has dominated his rivals this year, and dominated the ranking lists. In less than ideal conditions, with a slight tail-wind (+0.4), Banuve easily won the race in the time of 10.52 seconds. Local hero, Paul Zongo (NCL) finished second in 10.80 and PNG’s Ruwan Gunasinghe was third in 10.88 seconds. Other finalists were Kupun Wisil (PNG – 11.04), David Alexandrine (NCL – 11.06), Reginald Worealevi (PNG – 11.07), Moses Kamut (VAN – 11.07) & Kainric Ozoux (NCL – 11.10). With Frederic Erin yet to join the NCL trio in the 4 x 100m Relay, and Nelson Stone yet to join the PNG trio, we are set-up for a very exciting and competitive relay final. With the Fiji anchor being Banuve, anything could happen. Stay tuned.
The Parasport/AWD/Ambulant 100m Final for Men was convincingly won by PNG’s Francis Kompaon (11.32 & 1056 points) from his countryman Elias Larry (12.88 and 900 points) and FIJI’S Ranjesh Prakash (12.67 & 693 points). Because all of the competitors in this race had different disabilities, they were awarded points using the French Points Calculation System. The positions were awarded from the points, not the order of crossing the line. Francis was, however, first across the line but also had the greatest number of points. He won the silver medal in the T46 Category 100m at the Beijing Paralympics in 2008.
And finally the two-day Decathlon came to an end with the “dreaded” 1500m event. At this stage Eric Reuillard (NCL) had a commanding lead and could not be beaten. Reginal Monagi (PNG) looked to have a lock on the silver medal and the bronze was in the safe keeping of Lilian Garcon (NCL). Teiva Brinkfield led the field to record the fastest 1500m time, but that was just good enough to keep him in 7th position. Reginald Monagi, who had injured his back in a Pole Vault accident on Saturday, and re-injured it in his final Javelin throw, could not complete the 1500m and scored zero points, helping to elevate Lilian Garcon to the silver medal and Lars Fa’apoi (TGA) to the bronze - much to the joy of the Tonga Team. Reginald finished in 4th position. Final points were - Reuillard (NCL – 6232 pts), Garcon (NCL – 5443 pts), Fa’apoi (TGA – 5334), Monagi (PNG – 5207 pts), Qarau (FIJ – 4640 pts), Brinkfield (PYF – 4574 pts) & Harper (NCL – 3825 pts). Had Reginald been able to jog the 1500m in 6:38 he would have collected the bronze medal. It was not to be.
The night session finished with the Men’s 10000m – 25 laps of the Numa Daly Stadium track. It was a cracker of a race. From the gun, French Polynesia’s Frederic Burquier took off and established a large lead. Several times he looked around as if to say – isn’t anyone else brave enough to go at my pace. They were not lacking in bravery, just using their better judgment. The chasing pack, that was up to 100m behind at various times in the race, comprised Thomas Prono (NCL), Georges Richmond (PYF) – the defending champion and four times winner of this event – and Nordine Benfodda (NCL). In the latter stages of the race Nordine increased the pace, dropped Thomas and George, passed Frederic and then went on to establish what was to be a winning lead. It was obvious that he was in superb form and running his best race of the year. The main interest now rested with the struggle between Thomas Prono and George Richmond. Nordine had already finished the race (32:08.28) and was beginning his celebration when Thomas and George rounded the top bend to sprint down the final straight. Incredibly George Richmond won over his younger rival recording a time of 32:25.51 - 1/100th of a second ahead of Thomas Prono. It was a great race that clearly illustrated the intense rivalry between these two Francophone powerhouses of the Pacific. The first four had the fastest times in the Islands for 2011. There is nothing like getting all of the best athletes together and going head-to-head in quality competition. We need more of it.
Explanatory note. I use the IAAF three-letter code for the different countries. PYF is for French Polynesia, even though Tahiti is more frequently used.
Article by Bob Snow - Courtesy of Oceania Athletics