Personal bests, the minimum for athletes

TEAM PNG athletics coach Naomi Polum and manager Tony Green agreed that the goal for Toea Wisil and Nelson Stone is to perform to a high standard.
Bettering personal best times will be the baseline for a successful Olympics for the pair.
“Our athletes are training well and ready to compete,” Polum said  yesterday.
“On this stage, compared to the Pacific Games, there is a very big difference in standard and we must bear that in mind when setting expectations for our athletes.
“We are now up against the best in the world, not just the Oceania or Commonwealth but the world,” the former national track representative said.She said they were not expecting to make the finals of their events but performing well which included matching and improving personal bests which would be very achievable targets.
Wisil, who will run in the women’s 100m preliminary race next Friday, has a personal best time of 11.49 sec which she set at the Delhi Commonwealth Games in 2010.
Stone, who will compete in the 400m has 46.70 as his best time which he set also at the Delhi Games.
Polum’s comments were echoed by team manager Green who said the pair were consistent in that they lifted for the big events and the stage did not get any bigger or grander thsn the Olympic Games.
“It would be a major achievement for either of them to make it to the second round of their events but that is going to be extremely challenging given the standard,” Green said.
He said the best the duo could expect was to make it to the first round of heats especially Wisil who will run in the preliminary race next week.“Improving on their personal bests is very much expected and Toea has a good chance of making it to the first round because she has run some good times this year.”
Wisil would also be aiming to break the PNG national women’s 100m record of 11.37 set by Mae Koime in 2007 in Brisbane.That would add nicely to her Olympic debut.