4 Mar 2010

Willis and Vili competing in Melbourne tonight

3:58 pm on 4 March 2010

New Zealand's top two track and field athletes will line up at the Melbourne Track Classic tonight.

Olympic and World champion shot-puter Valerie Vili will have her second outing in Australia in a week, while Nick Willis will race in the 1500 metres.

Both are preparing for next week's World Indoor Championships in Doha.

Vili is closing in on the Australian all-comers record in the shot, while Willis broke Sir John Walker's indoor record in Britain a week ago.

Willis will come up against the man who beat him at the Beijing Olympics, Asbel Kiprop of Kenya in what is being described as one of the strongest 1500 metres fields to have assembled in Melbourne since the 1956 Olympic Games.