The 90kg Sprinter?

The face of determination?

Ever had that nagging doubt you might be a fish out of water and tried something that really wasn’t for you? Well, not so sprinter Savannah Sanitoa, who yesterday stunned spectators by competing in a World Championship 100m heat in Berlin.

On the same track as Usain Bolt, the world’s quickest man, later won the men’s 100m in an incredible 9.58secs, the hefty American Samoan blistered home in 14.23secs. And it’s not even her main event. Although it was a season’s best, she finished a full three seconds off the pace – but still romped home (then maybe chomped home?) ahead of competitors from Afghanistan and the Pacific island state of Kiribati.

‘It’s a personal best just for me to be here at the worlds,’ said a gasping Sanitoa after the race. ‘We have little competitions back home but to be here amongst the best in the world is pretty exciting.’

The 90kg (14st) runner usually throws the shot putt but failed to make the qualifying distance for this year’s Berlin event. Instead, the 22-year-old was offered a last minute wildcard into the 100m sprint and made a 22-hour flight from American Samoa to compete. Her personal best in the event is 14.06secs – far too much for Kiribati’s Tioiti Katutu, who finished the heats with the slowest time of 14.38secs.

But it seems Sanitoa has already figured out she isn’t a born sprinter – she is about to join the US army and I for one wouldn’t want to get in her way.

Comments welcomed here, why not ‘put’ it another way? Cheers.