Track: Hodgkinson sees 1500m as her future

New Zealand runner Toni Hodgkinson intends to now concentrate on the 1500m, despite failing to make an impression over the distance at the Olympic Games on Wednesday.

Hodgkinson, 28, has made her name as a sub-two minute 800m runner, reaching the 1996 Olympic final at the distance, then going into the semifinals at Sydney.

Her Olympic 1500m debut today proved a disappointment.

Hodgkinson was gunned down in the last 200m after making the pace, finishing ninth in her heat in a time too slow to reach the semifinals.

"I was very tired in the last 200m, I couldn't get going," she said.

"I felt good early in the race, but when I had to try to go I felt shocking.

"It is the end of a period I had goals set for. It's time to set new ones and make decisions, but I have to have some time to get over this one, it's not the nicest time to run below your best."

Hodgkinson, the New Zealand record holder in both the 800m and 1500m, saw her future lying in the 1500m. She ruled out the 5000m.

Hodgkinson was 28th fastest of 42 starters, after drawing what proved the slowest of three heats.

New Zealand thrower Tasha Williams finished 17th in the hammer, after a confidence-shattering tumble on one of her warm up efforts.

Williams, the first woman hammer thrower New Zealand has sent to an Olympics, was never comfortable on a surface made slippery by heavy rain.

Twice she mistimed her throws so badly they hit the cage.

Her third, and final throw, went 61.18 metres. That proved 1.60m short of what was needed to reach the final.

Williams could have been forgiven for thinking the elements conspired to thwart her, as conditions were near perfect for the following qualifying pool.

"I blew my confidence in the warm up, it took me until the third round to get going," she said.

"If the circle was dry from the start I think I would have been all right."

Williams, 27, had to switch from her preferred throwing shoes, to put on a pair that gave her more grip in the wet.

She had trained on wet surfaces in New Zealand, but they differed from that at Olympic Stadium.

Ranked in the Commonwealth top four, Williams said she would now set herself for the 2004 Athens Olympics.

- NZPA