Shot Put: Vili throws Commonwealth Games record

Valerie Vili in action in the women's Shot Put final. Picture / Brett Phibbs

MELBOURNE - It was "great shot that" at the Melbourne Cricket Ground tonight, as New Zealander shot putter Valerie Vili made short work of winning Commonwealth Games gold.

Vili, 21, fired good shot after good shot. Her best was a Commonwealth Games record 19.66 metres in the second round.

Even her shortest throw flew into territory no other could reach as she threw Nigerian Vivian Chukwuemeka from the Commonwealth throne.

Chukwuemeka took silver with 18.25m, ahead of Cleopatra Borel-Brown from Trinidad, 17.87m.

In her search for perfection, Vili fouled out throws that would have won minor medals for her rivals. When she sealed victory she signalled her joy with both arms raised.

A short-priced favourite for gold, Vili showed no signs of going the same way of teammate Beatrice Faumuina, who started the discus final as favourite and ended it in fourth place.

A raw 17-year-old when she won silver in Manchester in 2002, the Auckland woman mountain won in Melbourne like the hardened international she has become.

World championship bronze medallist last year, Olympic finalist in 2004, she was utterly dominant in sealing a fourth Games gold medal for New Zealand.

After opening with 18.95m, Vili broke the Games record on her second trip to the throwing ring. Her third and fourth efforts were no throws, round five 19.51m, her last an anti-climactic no throw.

New Zealand distance runner Kate McIlroy, 24, again showed her potential when a brave fifth in 3000m steeplechase.

McIlroy hung near or in the lead until the business end of the race, attacking the steeples like a veteran.

She could not hold on when Dorcus Inzikuru and Australia Melissa Rollison poured it on late, yet still broke the New Zealand record for the fourth time in five starts this year.

McIlroy, who was sick and bed ridden at the weekend, clocked 9 minutes 35.70 seconds. Her previous best was 9min 41.43sec.

Inzikuru won in 9min 19.51sec, from Rollison 9min 24.29sec, and Australian Donna MacFarlane 9min 25.05sec.

McIlroy said she had not felt at peak but "I can't complain". She had struggled to maintain her momentum once she cleared the hurdles.

"Hopefully next time I will be stronger and able to keep up with them," the world mountain running champion said.

Auckland sprinter James Dolphin reached the semifinals of the men's 200m, when second in his second round heat.

Rebecca Wardell mounted a strong finish to take seventh in the heptathlon, with teammate Sarah Cowley 10th.

Wardell, 28, topped the field in the javelin, throwing a personal best 48.48m for 831 points, then won her heat of the 800m in 2min 15.80sec.

Wardell totalled a personal best 5845 points, well behind the 6396 of gold medallist Kelly Sotherton, of England.

New Zealand middle distance runner Jason Stewart was third in his heat of the 800m, and faced an anxious wait as only the first two went through to the semifinals.

He need not have worried, as his 1min 47.74sec put him into tomorrow's semifinals as the quickest of the two fastest losers -- .06sec slower and he would have been out.

- NZPA