Athletics: Beijing hopefuls come up short

Prominent New Zealand athletes Jonathan Wyatt and Tony Sargisson have come up short in their bid for Olympic Games qualifying performances.

A week after winning the New Zealand mountain running title, Wyatt finished 15th in the Zurich marathon in two hours 23 minutes 6 seconds.

It was well outside the 2hr 15min qualifying time.

Sargisson was 12th in a 50km road walk in Beijing but his 4h 15min 10sec time was more than 18min outside his target.

Commonwealth Games silver medallist Sargisson was in control of the race up to 32km and was on track to achieve the time but conditions and a hard surface slowed him considerably.

- NZPA