Samuels on song in season opener

Dani Samuels began her domestic season on the right note at the Adelaide Track Classic over the weekend by securing a world championship ‘A’ qualifier in the women’s discus.

Taking gold in the event, Samuels’ best throw for the competition came in round three of the discus when she launched the discus 65.20m to put her name in contention for world championship selection.

Samuels’ throw was a new meet record in Adelaide and was complemented by throws 63.37m, 62.61m, 64.61m and 64.56m to round out a consistent opening meet.

“I was hoping for at least 63 metres, so to have a couple of throws out past 64 metres and then the winning throw of 65.20 makes me very happy. The consistency was there, so I was trying to play with the winds a little bit because it was shifting from a headwind to a cross wind and that was good practice for that type of throwing,” Samuels said to Athletics Australia.

There was further success for youngster Angus Armstrong, who took joint gold in the men’s pole vault with a leap of 5.25m, and Alexandra Hulley, who won silver in the women’s hammer throw with a best result of 61.38m.