Jacko Gill, competing at the Oceania Championships in Rarotonga today, has had the biggest throw of his career with the senior weight shot put, winning the Oceania title with 20.70.
The big throw improves Gill's previous best of 20.38, a New Zealand record back in December 2011, by 0.32 and also improves the Oceania championship record by 1.15.
Tom Walsh has gone on to raise the New Zealand record to 21.26 in March, placing third at the World Indoor championships.
The Oceania victory also propels 19-year-old Gill into real medal contention for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. He is now ranked fourth in the 2014 Outdoor Commonwealth rankings behind Walsh (21.16), Jamaica's O'Dayne Richards (20.11) and Canadian Tim Nedow (20.98).
Gill's world ranking for 2014 has jumped from 49th to 21st while Walsh, training in Switzerland, has a world ranking of 10 for the year.