PNG's Sprint Queen Toea Wisil warms up for Rio at ACT Championships

Following a temporary hiatus after last July’s Pacific Games, PNG’s favourite athlete Toea Wisil is back in all of her sprinting glory,placing first and second in last weekend’s ACT Championships’200m and 100m events.

After a challenging 2015 with the untimely death of her brother and father, Toea is working hard to be in her best shape ever.

Under new coaches Tony and Alison Fairweather, her strength has improved considerably as she continues to work on some technical changes and speed endurance. She is excited for what the future holds and is hopeful to compete in the 100m and 200m events at the Rio Olympics.

Last weekend’s event in Canberra was just a warm up, giving her a chance to put her new skills to the test. She went head to head with Australian national record holder Melissa Breen in the 100m final, coming in second at 11.44 seconds, just .06 seconds behind Breen.

“With both girls not having any races that have really challenged them for some time, last weekend’s event was a good chance to push their speed,”says Toea’s new coach and trainer, Alison Fairweather.

“Toea’s acceleration was extremely good and she managed to get past Breen by a fraction. The two girls raced each other right to the line with Breen just getting past Toea at the end. Toea’s time in the final is a very pleasing sign as she pushes to obtain the A qualifier of 11.32 for the Rio Olympics,” she says.

Last weekend’s event also saw Toea take home a PNG national record with a gold medal in the 200m race, where she clocked in a new personal best of 23.43. Toea was thrilled with this result as it was only .23 off the qualifying time for Rio’s 200m.

Wisil will return to Canberra on the 20th February for the Athletics Australia Canberra Track Classic, where she will compete in a finals style format running super fast times.