1 Aug 2009

Vili and 10 others off to Berlin

6:49 am on 1 August 2009

The Olympic and world champion Valerie Vili heads a strong team of 11 athletes representing New Zealand at the world athletics championships in Berlin in two weeks.

Vili will be defending her world shot put title won in Osaka in 2007 in her fourth world championships.

The 24-year-old has the top seven best performances in the world this year and leads the world rankings with her New Zealand national record of 20.69 metres set in Rio de Janeiro in May.

Also confirmed are javelin thrower Stuart Farquhar, decathlete Brent Newdick, 5,000 and 10,000 metre runner Kimberley Smith, 200 and 400 metre runner Monique Williams, marathon runner Michael Aish, 100 metre hurdler Andrea Miller, 800 and 1500 metre runner Nikki Hamblin and the women's world cup marathon team of Shireen Crumpton, Mary Davies and Fiona Docherty.