Walsh pipped by Crouser
It takes more than his first defeat of a stellar athletics season to knock Kiwi double world champion Tom Walsh off his stride.
The recently crowned Commonwealth Games shot put champion came up short for the first time this season at the Drake Relays meet in the United States, but has vowed to push on to even bigger and better things in 2018 as the northern hemisphere season heats up.
Walsh was knocked off his perch in the first head-to-head of the season with archrival and Olympic champion Ryan Crouser in Des Moines, with the giant American nailing a big opening throw that the Kiwi was unable to match.
Crouser fired the shot out to 22.01m with the first throw of his season debut, and though it was his only legal toss of the meet, it was still good enough to push world indoors and outdoors champion Walsh into second with his best toss of 21.82m in the second round.
American Curtis Jensen was third with 21.18m.
‘‘It’s good to get back out there and just compete,’’ said Crouser, who’s had two months out with a hand injury. ‘‘I’ve spent the past five weeks getting back into shape. I’m not really quite there but there are some good signs of what’s to come.
‘‘It’s never good to have five fouls,’’ he added. ‘‘That shows the inconsistency that’s there. [But] it’s always good to open the season with a 22-metre throw.’’
Walsh, though, was very much looking on the bright side of his first misfire for 2018 as he renewed his rivalry with the Olympic champion.
‘‘I felt like I had something in the tank, but I just couldn’t quite line it up,’’ he said.
Walsh said an ‘‘awesome’’ start to the year, that included world indoors and Commonwealth Games golds and a worldleading throw of 22.67m in Auckland, only whetted his appetite for what was to come, starting with the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League opener in a month.
‘‘I know I’ve got more in the tank, and still a lot more to give this year and I know not only Ryan, but the rest of the boys are going to come hard as well.
‘‘I’m bigger, faster, stronger, I’m throwing better technically and my timing is better, so I feel like I’ve got more to give still. I’m looking forward to this year – it’s going to be fun.’’
Walsh will now enter a reload block of two weeks before a warmup meet in Tucson. Then he and Crouser will renew their rivalry in Oregon for the May 25-26 Classic.