Canterbury sprinter Tiaan Whelpton has broken a long-standing New Zealand athletics record.
Whelpton ran 6.5 seconds in finishing second in the 60m final at the ACT Championships in Canberra.
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The time was well ahead Gus Nketia's long-standing national mark of 6.59, set in Barcelona in 1995, and qualifies him for the World Indoor Championships to be held in Nanjing, China in March.
Whelpton comfortably ran under the World Indoor Championships standard of 6.55.
The 24-year-old Cape Town born sprinter clocked 6.52 in the heats with an illegal trailing wind.
Whepton still has to be officially confirmed for the World Indoor Championships.
He's expected to run at the New Zealand Summer Circuit at the International Track meet over 60m and 100m before the NZ Track and Field Championships in Dunedin at the start of March.
Meanwhile in his first competition since winning gold at the Paris Olympics, Hamish Kerr won the high jump at the Cooks Classic in Whanganui with a height of 2.19 metres.
Fellow Olympian Sam Tanner won the men's mile in a time of 3:55 with Wairarapa's Alison Andrews-Paul won the women's mile in a time of 4:40.86.
It was Tanner's third consecutive title at Cooks Garden and his fifth sub-four minute mile at the venue.