Talented Tanner ready to fly NZ flag in 1500m

Nick Willis has spent two decades running himself into New Zealand sports history.

Etching his name alongside the likes of Snell, Lovelock, Walker and Dixon, Kiwi athletes for which first names were rarely necessary.

Now, as he strived for an Olympic swansong, Willis was passing the baton to a rising star ready to write the country's next chapter of middle-distance greatness.

The two time Olympic 1500 metre medallist, and Commonwealth Games gold medallist, said Sam Tanner was capable of surpassing even those lofty achievements.

"Sam is doing as good, if not better, than I was at the same age. We should be getting excited about the potential for that. I certainly am.

"I'm fortunate that he's come along at the end of my career not in the middle of it so I could win more New Zealand titles. If he was around I'd probably would have been coming second and most of the time."

Willis had already experienced that feeling, twice.

Tanner was just 18 when he first beat his hero, storming past him in the final straight to win an 800m race at the Capital Classic in Wellington at the start of 2019.

The second time came earlier this month, when he not only beat Willis but ran under the under the 1500m qualification mark for the Tokyo Olympics at an indoor meet in New York.

Tanner's time also bettered Willis' New Zealand senior indoor record, adding to the two national junior records he had already taken off him.

"To break his records is pretty crazy, and for him to be in the race when I've done it's actually really cool," said Tanner, who returned to the US last month to resume his scholarship at the University of Washington in Seattle.

"The best part is he's just super stoked when I get those times and he gets to see the younger generation that he's kind of mentored, in a way, come through and race really well."

For many athletes, Olympic qualification was the product of many years, sometimes, decades of hard work.

Such was his level of raw speed, though, it had taken Tanner just three to four years of full commitment to book his berth on sport's biggest stage.

Even Willis admitted he had been surprised by how rapid the rise had been.

"I probably thought it might have taken a couple more years to get to this point but he's got the perfect balance of utmost belief in himself, and the talent to back it up.

"Often it's one or the other, and you need them both."

Complimenting those qualities with a proper commitment to running had, of course, come with sacrifices.

As the eldest of five kids, growing up with Tauranga's Papamoa Beach on his front doorstep, 99 per cent of Tanner's spare time was spent in the surf or at the skate park.

A fact evidenced by his fifth-place finish at the 2018 national secondary school championships at Raglan.

But, at the end of Year 11, Tanner decided it was time to do something with a talent that had so far been rewarded with regional and some national success in cross-country.

A connection with coach and former Commonwealth Games marathoner Craig Kirkwood began, and the improvement curve had been trending upwards since.

With a bucket load of natural speed as a starting point, Kirkwood said the key to his training approach with Tanner had been "very cautious" levels of both volume and intensity.

"That's given him the durability to just be consistent.

"He hasn't had an injury and he's been able to be really consistent over that whole period of time and build a really solid foundation and it's really paying dividends now.

"He's really robust, got good endurance and he's also really fast, so it's all kind of coming together nicely."

A cautious training regime hadn't been the only reason for that durability.

Tanner said all his years surfing and skating had given him a level of all-round strength and athleticism many runners didn't have.

Those years had also, he reckoned, been a big help when it came to standing on the start line of increasingly significant races.

"How scary is it to race one person, compared to dropping in on a 14-foot vert ramp.

"That was probably my most crazy skating achievement, dropping on on the Mount Maunganui vert ramp, which is 14 feet high.

"If you fail that you could really screw yourself up. Failing a running race is not a very big deal."

Confidence which wasn't only being felt internally.

Kirkwood said it had been a quality he had seen since the start of his time as Tanner's coach.

"[He's not] afraid to line up against guys who have been there and done it, who have proven they're fast.

"When you're only a young guy that can be a bit daunting but someone like Sam is more than happy to take on that challenge and really thrive in that environment."

That absence of any fear of failure, among Tanner's many other attributes, continued to fuel conversation around his potential.

Conversation which had led to some handing him the label "the next Nick Willis".

Such a tag came with big expectation, but Tanner said he was ready and willing to embrace it.

"It's a massive honour to be called the next Nick Willis or anything along those lines.

"Not many people get to be even put in the same category as that, so I'm just really blessed to have the opportunity to be able to live up to those standards and that excites me.

"That actually drives your determination to get those times and get those records."

All that remained was to transfer that mindset to the biggest stage.

And joining Tanner at his first Olympics was adding to Willis' motivation to get to his last.

"It will make my purpose of being there have so much more weight to it.

"It's not just about ending the chapter for me but I can actually play a greater role in helping transition him into that experience, since I've been there and done that so many times before."

So what is the 20-year-old capable of, in Tokyo and beyond?

Given his natural levels of speed and endurance, Willis believed the sky was very much the limit.

Tanner was on exactly the same page.

"My goal has always been to medal at the Olympics.

"From past experience and judging off what others have done, I think I can hopefully win a gold in the 1500. So, that's the goal."

A goal, if achieved, that would secure his place on that exclusive list of New Zealand middle-distance legends.