TRACK queen Toea Wisil is running hot heading into the Port Moresby Pacific Games.
The national champion finished second in 100m at the 93rd Australian Athletics Championships’ in Brisbane on Saturday. She raced in a personal best of 11.40 seconds. She beat her personal record 11.41s set in Melbourne in 2013 by a hundredth of a second. Wisil was run down by Australian record holder Melissa Breen in a time of 11.26s, with Commonwealth Games competitor Ashleigh Whittaker third in 11.47s. Wisil qualified for the 200m, winning her heat in 23.75 seconds. The country’s darling of the track, Wisil has achieved all this in a time of immense struggle, following the sudden deaths of her father last October and brother earlier this month. Her coach and friend, Australian trainer Sharon Hannan said Wisil took a brief leave of absence before last weekend’s event to cope with her grief and still managed to come out on top. “Her performance at this (last) weekend’s Australian Athletics Championships was reflective of an athlete who has been finely tuned to the very last metre, in preparation for a major event,” Hannan said. “Wisil has been trying to cope with immense grief after the terrible sad loss of her father in October last year, and more recently the tragic loss of her brother after a lengthy battle with cancer. “She has found it very difficult to even want to do everyday tasks like eating and cooking. “So after a week off training, Toea is ready to focus on what’s ahead and use her God-given talent to do her best for her country and the people of PNG,” Hannan said. Looking ahead, Wisil will concentrate on her base conditioning work for several weeks to prepare for her main competition of the year, the highly anticipated Port Moresby Pacific Games in July. The Jiwaka lass has her eyes set on multiple gold medals at the Games as well as new national records in the 100m and 200m events. She will contest the 4x100m and the 4x400m relays. Wisil has been crowned Papua New Guinea’s Sportswoman of the Year in 2010 and 2011, was flag bearer at the 2012 London Olympics as well as one of the Games Ambassadors for the 6th PNG Games in 2014. Her dedication and commitment to athletics has seen her become one of the most recognisable athletes in the Pacific region.
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