New Zealand will send its largest-ever team to the World Indoor Athletics Championships in China this month, with 12 athletes set to compete.
Leading the squad is Olympic high jump champion Hamish Kerr, who aims to defend his indoor world title. New Zealand secured four medals at last year’s event, finishing third on the medal table.
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The team includes a strong shot put contingent, featuring Paris Olympic silver medallist Maddi Wesche, debutant Kaia Tupu-Smith, and men’s competitors Tom Walsh and Jacko Gill.
In pole vault, Olivia McTaggart and Imogen Ayris qualified, but Eliza McCartney is absent, having missed the standard after returning to competition post-Paris Olympics.
Sprinters Zoe Hobbs and Tiaan Whelpton will contest the 100m, while middle-distance runners Maia Ramsden and Laura Nagel compete in the 1500m. Ramsden recently set a New Zealand mile record in Boston. Alison Andrews-Paul rounds out the squad in the 800m, having posted the fourth-fastest time ever by a New Zealand woman.
