Former Athletics NZ board chair Annette Purvis says Kiwi athletes must go back to the drawingboard after a poor showing at the world championships at Budapest last week.
Purvis has told AM, while some athletes left Hungary satisfied, a few left searching for more one year out from Paris 2024.
High jumper Hamish Kerr and pole vaulter Eliza McCartney are among those heading back to training with work to do. Both are Commonwealth Games medal winners, yet neither failed to make it past their respective qualifications last week.
McCartney was ranked second in the world before the championships, but failed to clear the bar in qualifying, with three misses at her opening height of 4.50m. Purvis says McCartney had been dealing with injuries leading up to the event.
"Unfortunately for Eliza, she picked up a little niggle just at that very untimely end, so she didn’t progress pass the rounds of the pole vault. She'll be very upset".
Despite the performance, Purvis believes she won’t drop too far down the rankings.
"She will still be within the top five of the world."
Meanwhile, Commonwealth Games gold medal winner Kerr left Budapest bitterly disappointed, after also bowing out in qualification.
Kerr cleared both 2.18m and 2.22m with his first attempts in a lengthy qualification, but found 2.25m too tricky in one of the sport's most technical of events.
Kerr is a 2.34m high jumper at his best, but Purvis says the result will leave Kerr with a new desire to get back to the top.
"I know Hamish will be disappointed as well, but we still have a year to go to Paris. It's all part of the planning and preparation, and the athletes will just go back to the drawingboard leading into next year."
She offered some simple advice to not get caught up on the results.
"These things happen in sport."
