Original article published in Stuff 7 May 2023. Written by Marc Hinton

Six lousy centimetres. Stretch out your thumb and forefinger, and you about have it. That’s all that stands between 22-year-old Otago University student Shay Veitch and this rather laidback young man taking the leap into New Zealand long jumping immortality.

It was over 55 years ago (January 20, 1968) that the late Bob Thomas soared out to 8.05 metres in a meet at Okara Park, not far from his Kawakawa home, to set a New Zealand record for the ages. After Peter Snell’s mythical 800 metres time set a half-dozen years earlier, it’s the longest standing mainstream national mark on the Athletics NZ books.

But earlier this summer, at the Sir Graeme Douglas Invitational meet in west Auckland, Veitch, who is studying for his masters in nutrition at Otago, came north and produced the leap of his life to get agonisingly close to, er, knocking the bastard off. That wet and blustery evening he sprung out to 7.99m to notch, with a 16cm PB, the best long jump by a New Zealander for a quarter of a century, and the equal second best in history (Aaron Langdon also made it that far in 1998).

The jump was only good enough for second on the night, as Aussie Liam Adcock took the honours with a massive, slightly wind-assisted, 8.18m. But it has earned Veitch, not only a large dollop of respect on the national scene, but also conditional selection for the world championships in Budapest (August 19-27). One more leap out around the 8-metre threshold, and staying within the rankings cutoff, is all he needs to seal his first spot at a global major.

“I knew it was there, given I’d been doing 7.80s in the pre-season.It was just a matter of actually doing it,” he tells Stuff. “It had been frustrating not to meet the expectations my coach and I had earlier. For some reason I felt confident on the night, the weather was like back home in Dunedin, there was a nice legal wind and it was great having the two Aussies over.”

Veitch’s series in Auckland confirmed the two time national long jump champion had found the form of his life. He opened with a modest 7.40m (+2.3 wind), then went 7.85m (+2.4), 7.99m (+1.8), 7.88m (+2.1), 7.98m (+1.6) and 7.77m (+1.0). Remember, 2.0 is the wind assistance cutoff for a jump to be recognised as a record, or selection standard.

“A few people were asking whether I was happy or frustrated,” he said of getting so close to the national record. “I was ecstatic. I couldn’t believe it … I was almost lost for words. It was a great feeling as there had been struggles during the season and just to prove I had been doing the training was nice.

“I got the old back flip out (in celebration) which I haven’t done in a while. I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun competing.”

Coming off an injury-ruined 2022 (Veitch suffered a bone impingement in his ankle, and essentially took the season off), the athlete and his Wanaka-based coach Mike Beable had worked hard on adding extra speed and better rhythm to his runup for ‘23, and early results had been promising. He jumped 7.72m in Dunedin in October and then that PB of 7.83m at his home track a month later.

Then came that flat patch. And the mounting frustrations. He was winning events. But the distances were modest in comparison. “Eventually things came together, and after SGD I was able to pump out a few more because I had the feeling of how every step felt in the runup and how it felt getting off the board, so it became easy to replicate which was something I was missing early in the season.”

In terms of Thomas’ record, achieved on a runup that was a mixture of grass and synthetic track, Veitch has nothing but respect for a mark he feels is now well within his reach.

“It’s very impressive,” he says of a record that would be a “great honour” to achieve. “Even if I break it by a few centimetres, his will still be a bit greater just because he did it in an era when the training knowledge and facilities were not what they are now. That really adds to it.

“When I was starting out I didn’t think it would ever be possible to get to 8m, and eventually when I got to mid-7s it became more achievable. It’s nice it’s not far away now. I’m so close all I have to do is focus on PBing and it should go.”

As well as he jumped at SGD, it says a lot about the equanimity of the young man that he was shocked to get a call informing him of his conditional selection for Budapest. The Paris Olympics next year have always been his big target, but now the world stage beckons a year ahead of schedule.

“I wasn’t expecting the call,” he says. “I know I can compete with the best. I’m just surprised they picked me because although I know I can replicate those big jumps, I haven’t necessarily proven it. But that’s what I’m heading away to do, so I’m very grateful.”

It’s all starting to come together for a young man who was more serious with his football in his school days (he spent his last three years at Dunedin’s John McGlashan College, after an upbringing spent partly in Asia with parents who like to move around).

Though his coach lives in Wanaka, they find a way to make their partnership work to the point where Veitch feels he’s getting the best of guidance. “We keep in close communication and it seems to work,” he says. “There are not many people with Mike’s experience, which was highlighted by him getting a prestigious coaching prize (the Arthur Eustace Award) this season.”

And with his sprinter’s speed – he loves relays, has a 100 PB of 10.74s but has gone 10.34s wind-assisted to win a national title in ‘21 – there’s clearly plenty there for them to work with. “If you compared my runup speed into the board from last to this season, it’s very different. We’ve worked a lot on that, it’s been frustrating at times, but eventually we got there and it has paid off.”

It sure has. This young man who has taken a circuitous journey in athletics through long and triple jump, the 400, decathlon and the 100, and now back to the event he knows is his best, stands on the brink of something special. “If the goal was always to get to the world champs, then I guess it was the right path,” he adds with a smile.

To do that he’ll require just a bit more work, and some time away from his studies as he works towards completing that masters by the middle of next year. He’ll head north in early July for meets in Europe that he hopes will both tick off his condition for selection, and help him stay within the rankings cutoff for Budapest.

Somewhere on that journey, all going to plan, he should tuck away that record, and end over a half-century of waiting. Six lousy centimetres feels so close, yet so far.

Article added: Tuesday 09 May 2023