Ratu Kadavulevu quarter mile sprint sensation Sailosi Tubuilagi will be Fiji’s lone representative to this year’s Athletics World Championships in London. Tubuilagi was part of the winning 4x400m relay team that won gold at this year’s Oceania Championships in Suva.
The 2017 Coke Games 400m gold medalist was selected by Athletics Fiji based on universality and has been earmarked for the 2020 Olympic Games. Sailosi is currently ranked number2 in this year’s 400m national rankings behind Samuela Railoa.
Tubuilagi is a product of the annual FMF Chow Games but only made one appearance when he ran in the U9 grade 50m for Lautoka against former Marist Sprinter, Albert Miller Jnr. Years later he showed up running the 100m and 200m for Tilak High School as a first year junior. He developed a passion for the 400m when he became a likely choice for Lautoka Muslim and Natabua High School to run in their 4x400m relay teams. He later transferred to RKS where he now attends school and with the help of his coach, Moave Vu, transformed himself to one of Fiji’s fastest 400m runners in the last two years.
Tubuilagi has a personal and season’s best of 48.33s and will be looking to improve his time when runs on Saturday evening (local time) in the senior men’s 400m against the likes of NCAA sensation Fred Kerley, Botswana Olympian Isaac Makwala, USA’s 2012 Olympic silver medalist Bryshon Nellum, World Record Holder Wyade Van Nierkirk and many world leaders.