Record lifts thrower's Games bid

Len Johnson

BENN Harradine broke one of the oldest records in Australian athletics when he threw the discus 65.37 metres at a meeting in Chula Vista, California, on Friday night, enhancing his chances of making the Beijing Olympic team

The previous record of 65.06 metres was set by Wayne Martin in Newcastle in 1979.

The 25-year-old Harradine finished second to last year's world champion Gerd Kanter of Estonia, who threw 70.38 metres, and ahead of US internationals Ian Waltz and Jarred Rome. Harradine's first throw of 63.89 exceeded his previous best, but was short of his main target, the Olympic A-standard of 64.50. On his second attempt, he pushed the disc past both that distance and the national record.

Harradine was one of 11 athletes given more time after the national championships to achieve the Olympic standards. He has been consistently over the 60-metre mark but the Olympic qualifier had remained frustratingly out of his reach until now. He has made a strong case to be added to the team. He will compete in several more US meetings before returning to Australia.

Harradine is an indigenous athlete whose family came from Victoria's Wimmera. He lived in Newcastle when he first came to athletic prominence, but moved to Melbourne a few years ago to be coached by Gus Puopolo at Ringwood.

Shot putter Scott Martin, another of Puopolo's squad, has been forced to cancel competitions in Doha and Dakar after receiving a minor back injury in training.

Martin set an Australian record of 21.27 metres in Melbourne this year and made the final of the world indoor championships in Spain. He said yesterday he did not expect the injury to cost him too much training time.