Fourteen months after her second knee surgery (same knee), former Waipukurau local Briana Stephenson, 23, was back competing at her first National Athletics Champs since March 2021.
But these champs were different. They were the NZ Combined Events Athletics Champs, recently held at Cook’s Gardens, Whanganui.
The Women’s Heptathlon covers seven different events over two gruelling days of physically and mentally demanding competition. Points are collected per each event and the eventual winner has the most points. The faster the time or longer the distance, the more points you will gather up.
Day one carries four events but the three events on day two always finish with the physically destroying 800m.