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Simon Stacpoole/Photosport
Connor Bell, in action at last year’s Commonwealth Games, has extended his own national discus record by 9cm.
Red-hot Kiwi athlete Connor Bell has continued his sizzling form of the domestic summer by breaking the New Zealand discus record for a second time in 35 days.
Bell, just three days after competing at the ITM meet in Christchurch on Sunday where he threw 64.65 metres for victory, has claimed a notable scalp, and extended his own national record, in Wednesday night’s prestigious Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne.
The discus competition was held a day before the meet proper in Geelong, southwest of Melbourne, and the 22-year-old Aucklander completed a stunning double by defeating Australia’s Commonwealth Games champion Matt Denny with a brilliant winning throw of 66.23m in the second round.
That added 9cm to the national senior record (66.14m) he achieved on January 18 at the Pre-Potts meet in Hastings when he bettered Ian Winchester’s 21-year-old mark by over a metre. It also earned him a valuable swag of world ranking points at the region’s only gold-status meet.
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Denny, who was sixth at the world championships, and won gold in Birmingham with a throw of 67.26m, was second in Geelong with a best effort of 62.73m.
Bell told Stuff just days from heading to Christchurch he had his sights set on hitting the 67-metre mark this year, which would earn him an auto spot at the world championships in Budapest later this year.
“[The record] is something I’m not going to hang my hat on,” he said. “I want to push that out further and further. It would be easy for a young dude like me, who’s pretty green when it comes to professional sport, to get too excited about a good performance. That could halt progress.
“So, keeping true to the plan, keeping doing what’s got me to 66, and pushing that further and further is the big thing for me.”
For Bell Wednesday’s effort was a 21st national record of his career (including senior, resident and age-group marks). He now owns the New Zealand senior, U20, U19, U18 and U17 discus records and will be chasing a hat-trick of senior titles at the national championships in Wellington (March 2-5).
The main programme of the World Athletics Continental Tour gold-level meet will be held on Thursday at the Lakeside Stadium in Melbourne. Sprinters Tiaan Whelpton and Eddie Osei-Nketia, miler Sam Tanner, 200m star Georgia Hulls and field event stars Lauren Bruce and Tori Peeters head a 14-strong Kiwi presence.
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