On The Up: In the palm of his hand – Hawke's Bay shot putter Nick Palmer closes in on world championships dream
Some of the world's best competitors in their events were at the meeting, including Olympic Games women's shot put champion and German idol Yemisi Ogunleye.
Palmer's efforts lifted him from 62nd to 44th in the world rankings in just three days, and with each country allowed no more than three representatives, the Ireland win had elevated him to 23rd in qualifying for September's World Championships in Tokyo, for which the quota is 36.
Among the criteria for New Zealand selection is the potential to finish in the top 16, and Palmer told Hawke's Bay Today he now needs to hit a New Zealand team selection standard of 20.50m.
He says a place in the top 16 in the championships rankings is also in his sights.
With a goal of joining Kiwi medal prospects Tom Walsh and Jacko Gill at the World Championships, Palmer has timed his form to the moment.
He's heading straight to the World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany, where the shot put is contested on the weekend of July 23-24.
Palmer developed his interest in the shot put after a flash of inspiration while fishing on the beach in Napier when he was 10.
'I picked up a rock on the beach and chucked it a long way,' he once said. 'My dad used to do athletics and he thought that I could be good at this.'
He competed in the shot put and discus at the 2014 Colgate Children's Games and won the shot put, his 'first decent victory'.
As a pupil of Karamu High School in Hastings, Palmer was the Hawke's Bay Secondary Schools Sports Awards Supreme award winner in 2017, heading off teams award winners and national schools rugby First XV champions Hastings Boys' High School and female sportsperson of the year and future national women's 200m sprint champion Georgia Hulls.
He was at the time ranked No 6 on the World Under-18 men's shot put list, after winning the Under-18 title at the Australian Athletice Championships.
Palmer is now based in Christchurch so that he can train with Walsh, and is also studying psychology through Massey University.
Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke's Bay Today and has 52 years of journalism experience, 42 of them in Hawke's Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues and personalities.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
16 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Fairweather disqualified in world title defence
Canadian teenage sensation Summer McIntosh powered away to a convincing win in the final, clocking 3min 56.26sec to finish two seconds ahead of China's Li Bingjie. American Katie Ledecky followed in third, while Australian Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus was not present. Fairweather won the event at last year's World Championships, although the big three of Titmus, McIntosh and Ledecky did not feature on that occasion. She came within a whisker of that trio at last year's Paris Olympics, finishing an agonising 0.26sec behind bronze medallist Ledecky. Fellow New Zealander Eve Thomas also swam in the event, although missed out on a final spot, posting the 14th fasted heat time of 4min 10.10sec. Fairweather will get her chance at redemption in the 200m freestyle tomorrow, and the 800m freestyle later this week. - APL
NZ Herald
17 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Formula 1: Liam Lawson lands vital punch in Red Bull battle with Isack Hadjar
But in the battle to return to Red Bull after his two-race demotion, Lawson has done himself a world of good in Belgium. Here's what we learned at Spa-Francorchamps. The fightback begins While the narrative of Lawson v Hadjar plays out each week, we hadn't actually seen it on track until Belgium. Now that we have, though, you'd have to award it to the Kiwi in straight sets. You cannot argue that Hadjar has, without question, outperformed Lawson over the course of their time together in 2025. He has five points finishes to Lawson's three, and is still six clear in the drivers' championship. Recency bias, though, sides with the Kiwi. Since Monaco, Lawson has scored all 16 of his points, while Hadjar has managed 15. In fact, Hadjar hasn't scored a point since Spain, before Lawson outperformed him in Austria, before Belgium. Make no mistake, this is not the end of the battle between Lawson and Hadjar by any means. The 20-year-old has been a revelation at Racing Bulls, and has done all the right things to take his career to another level next year. The pair share a very close relationship, with Lawson widely understood to have taken on a mentoring role for his younger teammate. But in a sport where results speak louder than anything else, Lawson's recent results over Hadjar make for very good reading in the race to possibly step into Red Bull next year. Bragging rights Lawson's overtake on his teammate came at the same time as the crossover from wet to slick tyres. Getting ahead when he did set Lawson up as Racing Bulls' lead car, and gave him the first pit stop as a result. Had he not pulled that off, Lawson would have been forced to stay out for one lap longer, and lose any chance of a points finish. In Melbourne, the first of Lawson's two races with Red Bull, the opposite occurred, and the Kiwi was left out on slick tyres when he needed to pit for intermediates, only to spin out as Max Verstappen was preferred. In football, the adage is that these things tend to even out over the course of a season. And while not necessarily 100% the same, it's good to see a bit of fortune finally fall Lawson's way for once. Hope for Yuki? A 12th-place finish in the grand prix might not stand out as a season-saving result, but there were very good signs for Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda over the course of the weekend. Like Lawson before him, Tsunoda has struggled to come to grips with Red Bull's RB21, a car that only Verstappen seems to be able to get the best out of. But having seen Red Bull team principal Christian Horner sacked in the two-week break between Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps, Tsunoda could stand to benefit more than anyone else. Horner's replacement, Laurent Mekies, is Tsunoda's former boss with Racing Bulls and AlphaTauri. And with that familiar figure, the Japanese driver managed his best qualifying position of seventh. Tsunoda's future is by no means secure. His links to Honda will almost certainly mean his exit at the end of the year, when the Japanese engine supplier leaves Red Bull for Aston Martin. However, if Mekies' presence at Red Bull gives him any kind of lift, Lawson and Hadjar could have company in their fight for that second seat. Lawson silences Saubers Since Spain, Sauber have quietly become Formula One's dark horse. Under the guidance of former Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley, the soon-to-be Audi team are on course for their biggest points haul in years. Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto have together scored 43 points to climb to sixth in the constructors' championship, two clear of Racing Bulls in seventh. That total could arguably have been more, were it not for running into Lawson at Spa. After his first and only pitstop, Lawson emerged ahead of Hulkenberg, fresh from his first podium at Silverstone. The German veteran had plenty of opportunity to get around the Kiwi, but couldn't manage, and even saw his teammate demand to let him by to have his own crack at Lawson. It made no difference, as Lawson held off Bortoleto for the rest of the race. Lawson's junior categories were highlighted by his aggressive nature. This season, though, we've seen his defence come to the fore. Given more time, Lawson should begin to cash in on the promise that Red Bull saw, and give their second seat to, after just 11 grands prix. One to go Even though we've just had a two-week break between Britain and Belgium, Formula One is readying up for the final race of the first block of the season. Next week's race in Hungary is the last before the month-long summer break, giving teams the chance to reset. However, there is still a race to get through. The Hungaroring is a tough circuit, with plenty of low speed corners for drivers to navigate, while Hungary's high temperatures make it a challenge for drivers to navigate wear on their tyres. For Lawson, there's no shortage of past experience. Through Formula Three and Formula Two, he's raced there six times all up. His best result, though, is a sixth-place, achieved in 2022. Three years on, though, Lawson is a much better driver than he was in his F2 days, and will hopefully be able to continue on the trajectory he's heading into the summer with. Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.
NZ Herald
19 hours ago
- NZ Herald
British and Irish Lions clincher over Australia the best test of season: Phil Gifford
Tick them off. A huge crowd? How does 90,307 sound? Some brilliant old-school attacking rugby from both teams? Yes. Telecast in 130 countries, it was a game to debunk the idea that rugby has lost its appeal to all but an increasingly shrinking group of aged diehards. And to round it off, there was a refereeing controversy that will run for as long as Wallabies fans can still watch television replays and hear the cries of disbelief from commentator Morgan Turinui. Good on you, Sir Clive After losing the first test in Brisbane 27-19, the Australian team copped it from all quarters. Their own media and public were bitterly disappointed, and before the second test, there was a cutting comment from former Lions and England coach Sir Clive Woodward. He suggested the Wallabies were 'boys playing against men'. Few would have dreamed the same Aussie players were about to rock the Lions. Suddenly, the September test with South Africa at Eden Park is not the only major All Blacks showdown Auckland fans should look forward to this year. Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt carried the brunt of criticism after Brisbane, which was a harsh call considering the relatively average performance of Australian sides in Super Rugby. Given the likeable almost ego-free person Schmidt is, it was a pleasure to watch his team respond with such an outstanding performance. The Wallabies revival started in the forwards, with a scrum that was potent and lineouts that operated with impressive expertise. Add in the physicality of giant lock Will Skelton and captain Harry Wilson, and the base was rock solid. Rob Valetini was as dynamic as he has been all season for the Brumbies. He may well be the best blindside flanker currently playing test rugby. When even Schmidt is outraged Schmidt is virtually the anti-Eddie Jones when it comes to stoking controversy. But the Kiwi obviously felt so strongly about a decision in the 77th minute by Italian referee Andrea Piardi and his assistants, he didn't hold back after the game. The officials had taken no action about what Schmidt felt was head-to-neck contact between replacement Lions flanker Jac Morgan and Aussie forward Carlo Tizzano. Had Morgan been penalised, there would not have been time for Lions wing Hugo Keenan to score the 80th-minute match and series-winning try. Because it was Schmidt who made the comment Australia had been let down by the referee, you have to take it seriously. But having watched the chain of events involving Morgan and Tizzano numerous times, it does feel like a hairline decision that could have gone either way. A more picky referee or TMO might have called a penalty. It was Australia's bad luck that nobody in the officiating team in Melbourne was in a nit-picking mood. Man of the match As impressive as so many of the men in gold jerseys in front of him were, my man of the match was Australian halfback Jake Gordon. The 32-year-old veteran and Waratahs captain has a flinty edge to him that's matched by his ability to read the game. Typical of his vision was his try in the 29th minute, when he dummied past bewildered defenders to give his team an 18-5 lead (with Tom Lynagh's conversion) which looked like the basis for a victory. The match-up between Gordon and All Black Cam Roigard will be fascinating when they face off in the Rugby Championship. Jake Gordon of Australia dives to score a try during the second test between the Wallabies and the British and Irish Lions. Photo / Photosport A brilliant idea still working It's one of sport's ironies that despite rugby being an upper-class sport in England from its earliest days, tours by combined British Isles teams began in 1888, with a privately funded trip to Australia and New Zealand that had no official connection to fiercely amateur rugby unions in Britain. Over the centuries, the Lions have become one of the most successful and profitable inventions in sport, to the point where every player on the Australian tour will receive a payout of $210,000. Like most good ideas, the concept of having the best players from four international rugby sides combine to tour the other side of the world seems obvious once it has succeeded. The Lions are powerful enough to be a yardstick for any international team. They also give rugby fans in the Southern Hemisphere the chance to watch superstars from the Six Nations, whose home countries tour Downunder so rarely. Phil Gifford is a Contributing Sports Writer for NZME. He is one of the most-respected voices in New Zealand sports journalism.
