Beu clocks PNG’s second fastest time in women’s 200m

By PATRICIA KEAMO
UPCOMING national sprinter Leonie Beu has become the second fastest Papua New Guinean female athlete of all time after clocking a superb 23.61 seconds in the 200m heats at the Conference United States Championships in Denton, Texas.
Beu came close to reaching PNG’s top record of 23.13s set by Pacific sprint queen Toea Wisil, while qualifying for the event’s finals in Denton yesterday.
Athletics PNG president Tony Green congratulated the sprinter on her new personal best and second national record saying it was a significant improvement for the Morobean lass.
The 24-year-old represented Middle Tennessee State University which she joined in January this year, after a successful academic performance at Cloud County Community College which saw her transition to NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association) Division One athlete.
“Leonie has run a succession of good times in the last couple of months and was on track to run under 24 seconds for the first time,” said Green.
“But 23.61s is very significant improvement for her. Though Leonie wasn’t able to improve on this in the final, she did run 54.33 seconds to win the silver medal in the 400m.”
Green said the Morobe native has been very consistent in her performance since she went to the States and he was immensely proud of her.
“Leonie has worked very hard since going to the USA and we have seen the results this year where she has been getting faster with every race in both 200m and 400m,” Green said.
“With Toea Wisil in the twilight of her career, Leonie is now well placed to establish herself as the top sprinter in the Pacific.
“She won the 400m gold in Saipan last year and was second to Toea in the 200m.”
She is now focused on the Oceania Cup which will be held in Saipan from June 23-24 where she will be aiming to secure selection for the World Championships in Budapest scheduled for mid-August.