Athletics New Zealand has announced a team of six athletes for the IAAF World Youth Championships including St Paul’s student Ryan Ballantyne.
Ryan was added to the mix of athletes after his dominating performance in the domestic 2014/15 athletics season. The 16-year-old broke the Waikato BOP shot put record several times over the summer, a record previously held by 1994 Commonwealth Games medallist Courtney Ireland.
The first time Ryan broke the record he threw an impressive 19.08m at the Central Zone Athletics Championships in March, which catapulted him to number five in the world in the under-18 5kg category.
Ryan described his record breaking performance as “a bit surreal” saying he had only gained an extra three metres to his throw in the few weeks preceding the competition.
The championships will be held in Cali, Colombia’s third largest city, from 15-19 July this year.
