Source: Radio New Zealand
Tiian Whelpton runs leadout leg in a 4x100m relay at Hastings. Kerry Marshall/Photosport
New Zealand’s fastest sprinters have taken their international ambitions into their own hands – and they’ve found an unlikely source of support for their endeavours.
Less than a month after watching national recordholder Eddie Osei-Nketia change allegiances, many of his former rivals have joined him across the Tasman to participate in an Australian national sprint camp focused on relays.
Under a community-driven initiative known as ‘Black Batons’, the Kiwi speedsters have joined forces to push for Commonwealth Games and world championships selection this year.
Seventeen sprinters paid their own way to attend the week-long camp on the Gold Coast this month, tapping into Athletics Australia resources, as they try to qualify for the world stage.
The scheme has been masterminded by local coaches Nuree Greenhalgh and Sonia Waddell.
Greenhalgh was a junior champion over 400m/800m, but has found her niche as an up-and-coming mentor for sprinters, guiding Lex Revell-Lewis to a men’s national 400 metres record (45.88s) and Kendra Scally Tu’i to a women’s junior 200 metres mark (23.52s) last summer.
Waddell is simply a part of Kiwi sporting folklore. Daughter of All Blacks flanker Alistair Scown, she was a junior 400m hurdles champion on the track, before switching to rowing, where she reached two Olympic single sculls finals and won world championship silver in the quad.
As a cyclist, she won a national time trial title and then piloted partially sighted Jayne Parsons to para-cycling world championship gold.
She’s married to former Olympic rowing champion and America’s Cup winner Rob Waddell. Daughter Madeline is the current national women’s 400 metres champion and junior recordholder (52.62s), and is about to take up a track scholarship at prestigious Duke University in the United States.
“We reached out to David Reid at Athletics Australia, just to find out about his relay programme, because after three years, it’s been really successful,” said Greenhalgh. “We’re just building out knowledge and Athletics Australia invited us over, as coaches, to come into camp with them.
“Then they reached out and said, ‘Why don’t you bring a relay squad and run against us at the end of the week… you’re helping us’.”
The Aussies have recently used their relay programme to catapult their sprinters to new heights. Vindication of that effort came, when their women’s 4x400m team won world indoor bronze at Nanjing, China last March.
Lex Revell-Lewis and Eddie Osei-Neketia found themselves on different teams at the Gold Coast relay camp. Supplied/Casey Simms
In May, their mixed 4x400m – two men and two women – finished second at the world relays championships at Guangzhou, China, as Australia qualified teams in all six events contested.
For qualification, record and ranking purposes, races must feature at least two international teams. The Aussies have previously hosted Papua New Guinea at their camps to fulfil that requirement, but having a competitive Kiwi contingent on board suited them perfectly.
“They went above and beyond helping,” Greenhalgh reflected. “They imparted all their knowledge.”
The NZ athletes trained alongside their trans-Tasman counterparts, attended tactical and video analysis sessions, and at the end of the week, a men’s 4x100m team of Tiaan Whelpton, Hayato Yoneto, Shay Veitch and Revell-Lewis came within one-tenth of a second of a national record, almost running down old mate Osei-Nketia in the process.
A mixed 4x100m combination clocked 43.29s, which would have ranked 28th-fastest nation last year. Twenty-four teams will qualify for the world relays at Gaborone, Botswana, in May.
Homegrown sprinters have long been frustrated at the lack of international opportunities afforded them and Osei-Nketia’s non-selection for the Paris Olympics, despite breaking his father’s NZ 100 metres mark at the world championships, was undoubtedly a factor in his switch of nationality.
While New Zealand has a long and rich record of distance-running success, the last sprinter to make an Olympic final was more than a century ago, when Arthur Porritt took bronze over 100 metres at Antwerp 1924.
Forty-seven men broke 10 seconds over 100 metres last year alone – the first man dipped under that barrier 58 years ago.
New Zealand has never had one. Top Kiwi Whelpton clocked 10.10s – good for second on our all-time list – and ranked only 120th in the world.
Promising sprinter Kendra Scally Tu’i in action at the Gold Coast relay camp. Supplied/Casey Simms
Although New Zealand struggles to turn out top-class sprinters – Zoe Hobbs is the lone exception in recent times – its depth over 100 metres, especially among men, has probably never been better.
Throughout the years, only 25 NZ men have equalled or beaten 10.50s, admittedly a very modest time by world standards. In 2025, NZ had seven – not counting Osei-Nketia – more than the country had ever had.
“In the past, relays have not worked in New Zealand,” Greenhalgh said. “They haven’t taken off.
“Athletes have been more individual based and not committed to the relay.
“After seeing Australia competing their teams on the world stage and creating opportunities, we saw a little gap. We just wanted to create a way to get our athletes out there.
“Realistically, some won’t make it internationally as individuals, so their chance is the relay space. We want to keep athletes in the sport and give them results for all their hard training.”
When Greenhalgh and Scown first floated the proposal, they achieved buy-in from about 30 athletes across men and women, senior and junior.
South African-born Whelpton, 25, admitted he was sceptical about the idea. He had represented New Zealand at world indoor and outdoor, and last weekend came as close as any Kiwi to that 10-second benchmark, clocking 10.02s at Whanganui, with the aid of an excessive tailwind.
“My initial reaction was, ‘Here we go again’,” he said. “This is not the first time someone’s tried to get a relay going – there’s been quite a few failed attempts in the last few years.
“Initially, I didn’t pay as much attention as I probably should have. I thought this would be another one that didn’t get anywhere.
“After talking to Sonia and Nuree, and seeing how many people were getting stuck in and grabbing the bull by the horns, I’ve been 100 percent on board.
“I think we’ve got an unparalleled level of depth in the sprints that we’ve not had in previous years. We could genuinely have quite a competitive team – we might not have the speed some other countries have, but if we nail our changes, there’s no reason we can’t be competitive.”
Lex Revell-Lewis and Shay Veitch transfer the baton during a 4x100m relay on the Gold Coast. Supplied/Casey Simms
New Zealand sport is famous for fielding teams that perhaps lack the raw talent of their opponents, but make up for that by performing above the sum of their parts. In relay running, the great leveller is the requirement to get the baton safely around the track, while transferring it from one runner to the next within designated zones.
Inability to perfect this has derailed many fast teams throughout history, but the Kiwis can improve their standing considerably through mastering the intangible.
“That’s what we’re trying to work towards,” Whelpton said. “It’s going to take a while to get there.
“The Aussies have been doing it for a number of years now and, watching them, they are on another level. They are an Olympic final relay team and our goal is to get to the level they’re at.”
Whelpton insisted the Gold Coast camp was one of the best he’d attended in his career.
“We had access to their physios, their bio-mechs… they were filming us and giving us all our data. They were really holding our hand along the way and you could see they really wanted us to be better.
“If we can get to the point where we’re faster and competitive with them, that will be better for their relays too.”
The most notable absentee so far has been Hobbs, who also missed out on Tokyo Olympic selection, but used that setback as motivation to establish herself among the world’s fastest women.
In 2024, she became the first Oceania female to crack 11 seconds for 100 metres (10.97s) and has lowered her national record twice since. She has reached semifinals three times at world championships and again at the 2024 Paris Olympic, while narrowly missing a world indoor medal over 60 metres.
Zoe Hobbs overcame Tokyo Olympics non-selection to reach the Paris semifinals two years later. AFP/JEWEL SAMAD
Hobbs, 28, has the least to gain and the most to lose from diverting her attention towards a relay programme.
“It’s really important Zoe focus on her individual [goals] at the moment,” Greenhalgh said. “She hasn’t said she’s in or out.
“We’re just letting Zoe do Zoe, because she obviously has a Commonwealth Games campaign and world champs indoors.
“The goal of these relays is to get athletes competing on the world stage and growing in confidence. Zoe’s already there.”
For its part, Athletics NZ has expressed its backing for the initiative, even if its material contribution is limited.
“Athletics NZ is supportive of community-led initiatives that help move our sport forward at all levels and it’s been great to see the work going into the recent independent relay programme,” it told RNZ. “We’re fortunate to have passionate coaches all over the country, who make a huge contribution to athletics at all levels, every day.
“Although we’re not able to allocate funding to these types of development initiatives, we’ll offer support where we can and have worked with our meet promoters this season to make sure there are relay opportunities available at our domestic events.
“Some of the athletes and coaches involved also recently attended an Athletics NZ performance development camp, organised as part of our wider performance-development programme.
“Looking ahead, the Oceania Championships are a significant international competition opportunity for these teams, with qualifying for the 2026 world relay championships and the 2026 Commonwealth Games as aspirational goals for many of our athletes.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
