Peeters All Set To Face Stellar Field At The Sir Graeme Douglas International Presented By Harcourts Cooper & Co

New Zealand javelin record-holder Tori Peeters is relishing the prospect of lining up against a best ever international line up in Aotearoa when she takes to the runway at the Sir Graeme Douglas International Presented by Harcourts Cooper & Co at Douglas Track & Field, Trusts Arena, Auckland on Sunday 10 March.

Peeters, who last season enjoyed the best international year of her career highlighted by her national record of 63.26m in Yokohama and a season-ending second place finish at the Diamond League Final in Eugene, is excited by the possibility of taking on three 60m plus throws in a field boasting athletes from four continents (Oceania, North America, Asia and Oceania).

A pair of Japanese throwers – Yuka Sato (62.88m) and 2022 World Championships finalist Sae Takemoto (62.39m) – as well as three-time Olympian and Canadian record-holder Liz Gleadle (64.83m) will be among the chief opposition for Tori in what is an important staging post on her bid to book her plane ticket for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

“It is easily the best field I’ve competed against in New Zealand,” said Peeters, 29. “It is rare to get international athlete to come all the way here and a group of them have been training and competing for some weeks. It has cool to have been able to hang out and have an international javelin community based here.

“When I’ve travelled overseas, I’ve been well accommodated, so it has been nice to return the favour,” she adds of helping Sato and Marija Bogavac of Montenegro access to track and gym facilities in Hamilton.

Enjoying her first full winter under the coaching of Kirsten Hellier – who herself won a javelin silver medal at the 1994 Commonwealth Games – Cambridge-based Peeters is seeing some “really good numbers” in the gym and also technical improvements which she hopes will bear fruit this season.

“Training has been super different, and I’ve enjoyed an emphasis on skill acquisition into the throwing sessions. It has been awesome for Kirsten to empty her toolbox and for us to be working on a number of new training sessions. It has been a good motivation to change things up.”

Peeters opened her campaign with a solid win in Wellington last month, throwing the spear out to 56.53m to claim victory against a strong international field before following this up at the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne – a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meet – with a second-place finish and a best throw of 57.35m in challenging conditions.

Auckland will represent another major test but given the quality of the field, Peeters is looking forward to the women’s javelin – which also features New Zealand Paralympic F46 champion Holly Robinson – being one of the most high-profile events on the programme at the Sir Graeme Douglas International Presented by Harcourts Cooper & Co.

“It is awesome that we can create a bit of hype around the javelin. To be honest, many people come to athletics to watch the 100m which is the glamour event, but how cool is it that people will be able to watch a great international field throw the javelin far.”

On her expectations for Auckland, Peeters adds: “I hope to build on my performance in Melbourne and develop a more consistent series, which bodes well for the big throws. I love competing in New Zealand, but my eyes are on the prize for Paris. Sir Graeme will be a nice stepping stone and it will be awesome to go out and execute some big throws.”

***To buy tickets for the 2024 Sir Graeme Douglas International Presented by Harcourts Cooper & Co go here

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