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Kiwi 1500m runner Sam Tanner reacts after smashing his personal-best at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
You’d have sworn Sam Tanner had won the Commonwealth Games men’s 1500m final by the way he celebrated after crossing the line.
The 21-year-old Kiwi was jumping up and down, hands in the air, at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium on Sunday morning (NZT).
“I think I’m the happiest sixth-placed getter ever. [I’m 21] and running 3.31. I’m stoked,” Tanner said afterwards.
Of course, he wanted a medal. But, having hung tough in a sharply-paced final, he’d just knocked a whopping 3.03sec off his personal-best, clocking 3min 31.34sec in a thrilling race, won by Australian Oliver Hoare in a Games record 3min 30.12sec.
Now the second-fasted Kiwi over 1500m, having moved ahead of Sir John Walker and Rod Dixon on the all-time list, he also moved significantly closer to one of his primary goals – mentor and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Nick Willis’ national record (3min 29.66sec), which he aimed to make his “fast”.
“Monster PB. I’m frothing. Look at me. This is the Comm Games, this is insane. I’m stoked. I am a little bit lost for words.
“I had two goals. One: stay relaxed. Two: be the last person to shoot my shot in the last 100. Have the last bullet in the gun. So, I was a little off the pace, but the last 100…I’d like to see the splits because I felt like I was closing on those top guys.”
With recently crowned world champion Jake Wightman (bronze), and Kenyan guns Timothy Cheruiyot (silver) and Abel Kipsang among a world-class field, the pace was anything but that of Tanner’s heat a couple of days earlier, when the Kiwi cruised into the medal race in a pedestrian 3min 48.64sec.
David Ramos/Getty Images
Kiwi Sam Tanner, right, congratualtes Australian 1500m winner Oliver Hoare after the Commonwealth Games final in Birmingham.
That much was clear after just 100m of the blue riband event’s final, and hammered home when Kipsang led the charge through 400m in 54.8sec.
“The game plan was actually to get in the top three or something, but I also knew if it was really, really fast, people are going to burn their biscuits real early.
“I saw the first lap, I think 54 or something. ‘Ohh, some people are going to pay for that.’ And I was dead last at that point. I just made a really long smooth move, and with 100 to go, I just slammed it.”
Tanner wasn’t the only New Zealander to record a lifetime best during the morning session of the penultimate day of the track and field programme.
Alastair Grant/AP
Kiwi high jumper Keeley O’Hagan in action during the women’s fiinal in Birmingham.
Christchurch-based high jumper Keeley O’Hagan improved her personal-best by a centimetre, clearing the bar at 1.89m to finish sixth in the women’s competition.
O’Hagan came close to clearing 1.92m with two of her three attempts before bowing out.
Hammer throwers Julia Ratcliffe and Nicole Bradley, and 5000m runner George Beamish, will contest finals in the evening session.
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