Episode 32 - BELListic Missile

It's not like the F.a.T. Boys to be too PC but to kick off 2024 they're talking Potts, Porritt, Capital & Cooks...classic Kiwi athletic meets every one. With a dash of Australian analysis & a splash of news from further afield it's the recipe for a huge helping of F.a.T. chat from Roso & Rogers as the World Indoor Champs & Olympic Games loom large.

Dunedin dynamo Anna Grimaldi is a two-time Paralympic long jump gold medallist but she struggled with imposter syndrome after finding success so quickly as an athlete. Now as she prepares for Paris we hear from a rejuvenated jumper and sprinter confident about her right to perform on the biggest stage.

At the tender age of 22 Connor Bell has already hurled the discus further than any New Zealander. A youth Olympic & Commonwealth champion he has cleared the chasm to the senior ranks & with every international experience he steadfastly grows in stature. We discuss discus with one of the brightest prospects wearing a Kiwi singlet.

Eleven years after her first national title Sarah Drought has added two more in 2023 & posted PBs over the 10km & half-marathon distances. With two young children & a busy work life, how has she balanced it all to the point of being able to finish in the top 50 in the World Cross Country Championship? Sarah sums up her superb season in less than an hour as we wrap road running results around the world.

As the seasons merge we review the World Athletics Championships where 19 Kiwis were Hungary for success. We also pick out the gems from the Diamond League Final in Eugene. As the cross country season concludes Down Under, young NZ representatives Bella Earl and Jamie Mora talk of their experiences in Australia and their prospective paths to US scholarships.

Murray "Scoop" McKinnon has been to nine World Athletics Championships as a journalist & once held up an International press conference so that a New Zealand champion could speak to the country's leading broadcaster, Paul Holmes. Hear more of Murray's momentous memories & his predictions for this year's 19-strong Kiwi contingent that have made it to Budapest for the 2023 edition.

New Zealand's Para Athletics World Championship team of seven secured nine medals across nine days of competition. Athletics New Zealand's Community Manager Hamish Meacheam, himself a coach of para athletes, reflects on the many highlights in the city of lights. Also a full beam spotlight on Geordie's stupendous steeplechase national record.

One of New Zealand's fastest female sprinters has returned to farm work during her off-season from West Texas A & M University & is turning heads in a Te Awamutu gym with her uniquely tailored workouts. Leah Belfield was born & raised on a dairy farm in rural Waikato. She represented the province in a host of different sports as a youngster but a sprint double in the 2015 NZ Secondary Schools Championship in Timaru propelled the Arohena arrow down an athletics course that is still gathering speed.

Javelin thrower Tori Peeters furthered her national record in Japan recently but the girl from Gore is far from satisfied with being the best in this country. As the world stage beckons Tori talks pointedly about success, failure, disappointment & delight.

Eliza McCartney leapt into our lives in 2016 with a brilliant Olympic bronze as a 19-year-old with a smile as wide as the Auckland Harbour Bridge. Two years later she soared to what is still the world's fifth highest women's vault of all time but there were warning signs of injury troubles which would ultimately cost her a trip to Tokyo & see her effectively start from scratch. Now a rebuilt & renewed athlete has ripped up the runway in 2023 already armed with a ticket to Budapest & beyond.