Offereins in Form in the Land of the Rising Sun

Ben Offereins kicked off his overseas campaign with a silver medal in the men’s 4x400m relay in Osaka, Japan.

Following his excellent domestic form which culminated with a national title in Perth, Offereins teamed with Joel Milburn, Matt Lynchand James Gurr to place second at the IAAF Osaka Grand Prix.

Also in action in Japan, were WAIS pole vaulters Alana Boyd and Amanda Bisk. The pair claimed third and fourth respectively with 4.40m and 4.30m clearances.

The competition was won by American Melinda Owen who equalled former WAIS legend Emma George’s competition record of 4.45m dating back to 1998.

In other Australian results:

World discus champion Dani Samuels has kicked off her 2010 international campaign in dominant form ahead of Friday night’s inaugural IAAF Diamond League meet in Doha (QAT), setting a new meet record to take victory at the IAAF Osaka Grand Prix meet in Japan.

Building on her reputation as a class performer under pressure, 21-year-old Samuels came from behind to post the winning throw in the final round of competition and etch her name into the meet record books with a heave of 63.75m.

Samuels was joined on the winners’ list by in-form ACT athlete Lauren Boden, who continued her scorching start to the year by posting her second personal best time inside a week to take out the women’s 400m hurdles.

Just days after lowering her lifetime best to 55.49 at the Shizuoka International meet on Monday, the national 400m hurdles champion clocked 55.25 to claim her second international crown of the 2010 season and move to No. 3 on the Australian all-time list behind former Olympic champion Debbie Flintoff-King (53.17) and two-time world champion Jana Pittman-Rawlinson (53.22).

In the men’s event, Australian 400m hurdles champion Brendan Cole placed fifth with his first sub-50 run of the year, crossing the line in 49.85m.

In other track results, Australian sprint queen Melissa Breen finished third in the women’s 100m in a time of 11.47 (w: -0.1). Career Olympic, world and world indoor champion Veronica Campbell-Brown (JAM) took out the race, clocking 11.02 in her first 100m outing of the season to record the third-fastest time in the world this year.

Queenslander Chris Noffke leapt 7.92m (w:0.3) to place second in the men’s long jump, finishing behind China’s Su Xiongfeng (8.11m, w:0.1) and one place ahead of Berlin world championships finalist Brian Johnson of the USA (7.84m, w:0.0).

– With Athletics Australia