Sprinter Leonie Beu off to Paris Olympics

Papua New Guinea’s top sprinter Leonie Beu will head to Paris for the Olympic Games after a stunning routine at the Oceania Athletics Championships.

Beu’s strong performance at the championship which concluded last Friday booked her the only available Olympic Games ticket to France over hurdler Adrine Monagi.

Following close assessment by Athletics PNG for the Olympics nominee, Beu proved herself as the stalwart candidate to represent the country in the blue ribbon event of 100m sprint.

Beu has been instrumental on the tracks since establishing herself as the fastest woman in PNG after setting the new 100m national record at 11.68 seconds early this year.

She finished third in the finals, settling for bronze medal at the Oceania Championships.

“Congratulations to Leonie Beu and Adrine Monagi for their outstanding performances at the Oceania Championships. Under new rules only one spot is available to us for the Olympic Games in Paris and that is in the 100m sprint,” Athletics PNG shared on its social media page. 

“Leonie has established herself as the country’s top sprinter by posting the fastest 100m time for PNG this year (11.68secs) and followed this up with a bronze medal in a very competitive Oceania Championships 100m.

“Leonie also showed great strength and fitness by running the 200m in under 24 seconds three times in the space of 24 hours (getting faster with each 100% effort) and mixing it with best Australian and New Zealand sprinters.

“It was a great day for PNG Athletics with a lot of observers being very impressed with our athletes.”