15-strong NZ athletics team named for Olympics

A pair of reigning World Indoor champions and two former Olympic medallists have earned selection as part of the initial 15-strong New Zealand athletics team set to compete at Paris 2024.

Indoor champions, high jumper Hamish Kerr and middle distance runner George Beamish, have been included along with two-time Olympic shot put bronze medalist Tom Walsh and 2016 pole vault bronze medalist Eliza McCartney.

Kerr will attend his second Olympics after finishing tenth in Tokyo will Beamish has been selected for his first Olympics and will compete in the 3000m steeplechase.

Beamish, who finished fifth in the steeplechase at the 2023 World Championships will be the first Kiwi steeplechaser at an Olympic Games for 40 years.

He won the 1500m at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow earlier this year.

The team will see the welcome return of pole vaulter Eliza McCartney, who last competed on the Olympic stage when winning bronze as a teenager at Rio 2016.

The New Zealand record-holder has had her injury struggles in recent years, but the Aucklander is back to her best as evidenced by her World Indoor silver medal in Glasgow last month.

"It's hard to put into words what this means to me after the rollercoaster ride of the last four years," said McCartney.

"I started this Olympic campaign knowing full well I may never go to the Olympics again, so to have reached this point is incredibly special and a huge honour."

To further underline the strength and depth of women's vaulting in New Zealand, McCartney will be joined on the New Zealand team by Olympic debutantes Olivia McTaggart, and Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Imogen Ayris - subject to the pair meeting performance conditions.

Both Tom Walsh and Jacko Gill are all set for a third successive Olympic appearance in the men's shot. Christchurch-based Walsh, the current Commonwealth champion, is hunting history as he bids to become the first Kiwi man to land athletics medals at three successive Olympics after snaring bronze at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

Further bolstering the New Zealand shot challenge is Maddi Wesche, who is set for her second Olympic appearance. The 2020 Tokyo Olympic sixth place finisher and Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist produced the longest throw of her career with a 19.62m effort to place fourth at the World Indoor Championships last month to indicate the 24-year-old Aucklander is great shape to perform well in the French capital.

World Indoor 60m fourth place finisher Zoe Hobbs is also set for her Olympic debut as she becomes the first Kiwi to be selected in the women's 100m at an Olympic Games since 1976.

"It's so exciting," said Hobbs. "I've had the dream of going to the Olympics since I was a little kid, I've been doing sports since the age of five and it's something I've always wanted to achieve.

"It's a real privilege, it's been a number of years since we've had a woman compete in the 100m for New Zealand and I'm really looking forward to it."

Papamoa-based Sam Tanner, the New Zealand all-time number two for the 1500m and mile, has earned selection in the men's 1500m at a second successive Olympic Games while Camille French has booked her ticket for Paris in the marathon.

Three further throwers will also feature in Paris as Connor Bell (men's discus), Tori Peeters (women's javelin) and Lauren Bruce (women's hammer, subject to additional conditions) have earned Paris 2024 selection.

Auckland-based Bell, who bettered his national discus record with a stunning 68.10m throw in Oklahoma on 14 April, and Peeters, who finished second in the 2023 Diamond League Final in Eugene, will be making their Olympic debuts.

The team is rounded out by Ethan Olivier, 18, who is set to become the first New Zealand triple jumper to compete at an Olympic Games since Dave Norris at the 1960 Rome Olympics.