Never before has New Zealand boasted so many world contenders on both the track and the field. How long will it last?

There is one “golden era” in New Zealand athletics history that everyone can agree on. When Arthur Lydiard introduced the training concept of long (really long) training runs for middle-distance runners, he revolutionised the event and in the process, coached a suite of mostly Auckland runners onto the Olympics podium. Murray Halberg, Peter Snell, John Walker – all were global names in running in the 60s and 70s and all won Olympics gold. For a brief period, New Zealand was a running nation, known around the world as a force to be reckoned with, no matter its size.

Soon after, as track and field grew in popularity as a competitive and eventually professional sport and other nations turned their minds to it, New Zealand’s outsized footprint shrank. We were still a country with incredibly talented athletes who could compete with the best in the world, just usually only one or two at a time. 

Now, it feels like New Zealand athletics is as strong as it’s ever been. Not because we dominate a specific set of events but because for the first time, maybe ever, New Zealand has world-class contenders right across the board. This is not a case of one visionary coach or once-in-a-generation talent (Valerie Adams), this is just a well-rounded group of elite individuals demonstrating that New Zealanders can succeed in even the most universally competitive of sports.

New Zealand Athletics has been capitalising on our recent unprecedented star power in track and field with the inaugural Track Stars event earlier this year: a (free) ticketed evening showcase during the national champs featuring star athletes alongside celebrity appearances. It was a huge success, with teen running prodigy Sam Ruthe putting on a clinic to win a late-night 1500m and Zoe Hobbs humbling a number of former athletes from other codes in the celebrity 100m sprint, all in front of a packed grandstand and aired live on TVNZ1.

So who is in this golden era 2.0?

Throws

There was a time when New Zealand could lay claim to the most dominant female shot putter in the world in Valerie Adams, as well as the men’s undisputed world indoor champion in Tom Walsh. Valerie Adams has retired and Walsh is 34 years old but guess what? 

In 2022, Walsh won gold at the Commonwealth Games, with fellow New Zealander Jacko Gill picking up silver. Walsh is competing again at this year’s games while Gill is injured, but the shot put carousel rolls on with 26-year-old Nick Palmer, who will throw against Walsh in the final this morning.

In the women’s event, 2024 Olympic silver medallist Maddi Wesche isn’t in Glasgow but is still in her prime years and has every reason to be chasing the number one spot. That’s four world-ranked throwers out of one very small country. Shot put will once again be appointment viewing at the next Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.

National record-holder Connor Bell just announced his retirement from the discus but one to watch is teenager Adam Leece, who took up throwing only a year ago and has taken to both discus and hammer throw, with world-class age-group distances in both events. He’s heading to the US on a college scholarship and will be one to watch over the next few years.

In the hammer throw, Lauren Bruce just won silver in Glasgow and may yet have another Olympics outing in her.

And in javelin, Tori Moorby will compete in Glasgow this weekend following a solid Diamond League season that cemented her position in the top band of throwers in the world.

Jumps

Not since Yvette Williams in 1952 has New Zealand had a jumps contender at the level of Hamish Kerr. After winning gold in the high jump at the Paris Olympics, Kerr followed up with a win at the 2025 world champs and world indoor champs. He hasn’t been competing this season as he recovers from burnout, but told reporters in Glasgow (he’s attending but not competing)  he has every intention of defending his Olympic title in 2028.

Meanwhile we’re spoiled for choice in the women’s pole vault with not one, not two but three medal contenders in Glasgow – Olympic bronze medallist Eliza McCartney, alongside fellow Olympic finalists Olivia McTaggart and Imogen Ayris. It’s not often that an elite New Zealand athlete could qualify for an Olympic event and not be able to go because too many others have qualified ahead of them, but women’s pole vault is one such event.

As for the future jumpers, reigning world U20 triple jump champion Ethan Olivier has made the final at his first Commonwealth Games after competing at the Paris Olympics on his 19th birthday. Another one to watch.

Middle-distance running

Can you believe we haven’t even made it to the track yet? New Zealand’s historical genre of choice, middle-distance running, is still going strong with Geordie Beamish the reigning world champ in the 3000m steeplechase (New Zealand’s first world champion on the track) and Sam Tanner a regular competitor in the 1500m.

But the (very young) man of the moment is Sam Ruthe, the teen prodigy who is the youngest person in the world to run a sub-four-minute mile, and holds the New Zealand mile record (better than Peter Snell and John Walker’s attempts). At 17, he’s the New Zealand 1500m senior title holder and is considered one of the most exciting prospects in the whole of world running. 

Sprints

Something I genuinely never thought I’d see in my lifetime was a New Zealander winning an international 100m race on TV. The 100m sprint is the most glamorous specialty in track and field. It’s the most watched event at the Olympics and its competition pool is, on paper, the entire world. Because of that, 99.9% of athletes who think they want to be a 100m sprinter end up switching to another event or even another sport. Two years ago, this section wouldn’t have even existed.

Then along came Zoe Hobbs. She too was encouraged to focus on a different event but she stuck with it, despite Arthur Porritt being the only New Zealander to make an Olympic 100m final a whole century ago. Hobbs just won gold in Glasgow, the first time a New Zealander has ever won a medal in any sprint at the Commonwealth Games. Why not hope for a black singlet morph suit at the next Olympics 100m final?

The future

Athletics isn’t the only Olympic sport New Zealand has seen success in, but look at our history of Olympic medals and you’ll see that our track and field successes, along with Danyon Loader’s swimming golds and the recent rugby sevens additions, are the only ones won in  sports without extremely high financial thresholds for participation. The others? Sailing, rowing, cycling, canoeing, shooting, equestrian.

Those sports are all wonderful and their successes a legitimate source of pride for such a small country, but few New Zealand kids watching the Olympics will be able to turn around and take up those sports. Athletics, though? Absolutely. 

I’ve long believed that athletics should swallow up the bulk of “mid-level” sports funding in New Zealand, given it has the lowest barriers to entry and largest pool of amateur competitors (virtually everyone who goes to school and competes in an athletics day). With our current crop of world competitors, it’s clear the talent is there for the coaching. Athletics is experiencing a new golden era. The question is, how long can we keep it going? With 19 young stars heading to the U20 world champs next week in Oregon, we may soon find out.