Athletics Fiji was represented at this year’s Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) by Fiji High Schools’ sprints sensations; Heleina Young, Kolinio Radrudru and Waisake Nakavu and Jone Delai as head coach.
Heleina
We begin with SJSS sprint sensation, Heleina Young. Being shadowed by alumni Olympia, Seavula, Heleina has never stopped shinning. Amidst her stellar performance at the Oceania Area Championships and an unlikely win in the 400m at this year’s Coke Games Finals, the hockey player turned athletics rep capped off her 2017 season with a new personal best of 12.38s and a 6th place finish in the 2nd semifinal of the Girls’ 100m. A performance that has tied her for third place with club teammate Braelynn Yee in the 2017 Athletics Fiji National Rankings. She’s also ranked number 1 in the 400m in Fiji this year after only taking up the event when a minor hip flexor injury during a training session saw to it that she would not be able to run at 100% on a curve like they do in the 200m. Nevertheless, the quarter mile gave her stamina which in turned fused well with her natural speed.
Kolinio Radrudru
In his first ever international outing, Radrudru did not fail to impress sprints coach Jone Delai. Despite bowing out in the heats of the 100m in a time of 11.20s, Koli came back in the 200m to book a semifinal birth after clocking a 22.71s and 4th place finish in his heat. Due to an injury plagued season, Koli managed an 8th place finish and clocked a mere 22.94s in his semifinal, well under his lifetime best of 22.18s but pretty impressive considering an athlete of his age having to cope with a bad hamstring injury all season and the added pressure of representing their country on an international stage for the very first time.
Waisake Nakavu
The lanky long strider from Marist had a pretty busy 2017 season competing in almost all the Athletics Fiji organised competitions and finally finished off his season with a 5th place finish in his 100m heats in a time of 11.30s. Similar to Koli, this was Waisake’s first ever international outing. Nakavu currently has a personal best of 11.00s which makes him as the 4th best sprinter in Fiji this year.
Go to our results section for full results.