Fiji's Banuve Tabakaucoro remains the sprint king of the Pacific Games after defending his 200m title in a dramatic duel with Samoa's Jeremy Dodson.
Banuve Tabakaucoro got the better of Jeremy Dodson in the men's 200m final. Photo: Pacific Games Service Roland Setu
The 26 year-old crossed the finish line in 20.87 seconds, with Dodson a whisker behind in 20.91.
Tabakaucoro had already beaten the home-town favourite in Tuesday's 100m final but until last night he had never beaten Dodson in the Samoan's favoured event.
"He's been in the business for long so I was hoping to be in front of him in the final, to have a lane out in front of him. If I was behind him I would have ran his race so what I did today is I made Jeremy run my race and just working on that first 150m. I was waiting on him, waiting on him (to catch up) but he just didn't get me today."
Both men tumbled to the ground upon crossing the finish line, after leaning in to try and secure the win, but were quick to embrace after finding their feet again.
Banuve Tabakaucoro got the better of Jeremy Dodson in the men's 200m final. Photo: Pacific Games Service Roland Setu
Despite their rivalry on the track, Banuve Tabakaucoro said he has formed a strong friendship with Jeremy Dodson and looks up to the former Team USA representative.
"Both his personal bests in the 100m and 200m are better than mine. We have our chat sessions, talk to each other in how we can fix each other's game plans and how we want to execute our races every day so today was just a day where we had to go head to head. With the competition I've had from him I'm really looking forward to the future and meeting him a lot more. We both bring out the best in each other."
Tabakaucoro has now won three consecutive 100m and 200m titles at the Pacific Games, and has another shot at gold on Friday in the 4x100m relay.
After two years away from the track playing sevens rugby, he said there's still plenty of room for improvement but the early signs are good.
"With all the times that I've clocked at these Games it's still my first cycle of training, just my second international competition of the year and if I've started off like this then I'm really looking forward to next season," he said.
Papua New Guinea's Theo Piniau claimed the bronze medal in the men's 200m, while Papua New Guinea sprint queen Toea Wisil won a third straight gold medal in the women's event in 23.45 seconds to add to her 100m and 400m titles.
Banuve Tabakaucoro got the better of Jeremy Dodson in the men's 200m final. Photo: Pacific Games Service Roland Setu