Athletics: Brazil hopeful sets PB

Eric Speakman.

Hawke's Bay Olympic Games hopeful Eric Speakman smashed his previous best 1500m time by 2m41s at a meeting in the United States yesterday.

Speakman was the third best of the Kiwis with a sixth place and a time of 3m37.85s. The Napier Harriers Club member requires a time of 3m36.20s to qualify for the New Zealand team for Rio and has until July 11 to hit the standard.

His next opportunity will be a race in Windsor, Canada this weekend. Speakman and fellow Kiwis Julian Matthews and Hamish Carson went to the meeting in Swarthmore, near Philadelphia after attending training camps with Nick Willis in Arizona and Michigan. Each country can have three athletes per each athletics event and with Willis already selected the competition is intense for the two remaining spots.

Matthews and Carson finished second and third respectively. Matthews, a 1500m finalist at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, ran 3m36.14s to trim 1.13 seconds off his personal best and sneak under the Rio 2016 IAAF standard and NZ A nomination standard of 3m36.20s.

Matthews can expect to be nominated for the Rio Olympics in the next selection announcement in July.

Carson was equally impressive, stopping the clock just 0.11s behind Matthews, recording 3:36.25, a personal best by 1.79, just outside the A standard 3:36.20, but comfortably under the NZ B standard of 3:37.20.

Carson will need to either run faster than 3:36.20 or wait to see if he gets an invite from the IAAF and his nomination confirmed by the NZOC.