Prefontaine Classic win another box to tick on Walsh’s wishlist

Tom Walsh can tick off another achievement when he lines up in the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon tomorrow.

The Canterbury shot putter has had a stellar couple of years, winning two world indoor titles, the outdoor crown in Birmingham last year, claiming bronze at the Rio Olympics in 2016 and gold at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April.

But he wants Olympic gold and a Diamond League victory at the event named after American track star Steve Prefontaine, who died at 24 in 1975.

“It’s one of the biggest meetings on the Diamond League circuit, outside of the final,” Walsh’s coach Dale Stevenson said of the Diamond League season opener for the shot men.

“This is a good opportunity to put that on his resume. Outside that, there’s only the Olympic gold he’s got to tick off on his wish list.”

It shapes as a significant event. It is the first Diamond League meet for the shot putters and with Walsh’s leading rivals, Americans Ryan Crouser and Joe Kovacs, the only men who beat him at the Rio Olympics, rising American Darrell Hill, with a personal best of 22.44m, and German David Storl, a two-time world champion and silver medallist at the 2012 London Olympics all in the star-studded field, it should be a top-class event.

There was controversy at the end of last year’s worlds when Crouser and, to a degree, Kovacs reacted poorly to Walsh’s victory. It tarnished his success. But Stevenson said that is history.

“At the time, it did take a little bit of gloss off the moment in London last year. A couple of hours straight after the event, even 24 hours after, there were ongoing rumblings that took the shine off a little bit.

“I wouldn’t say there’s bad blood but you put a couple of competitive guys together who want to win and that’s a really healthy relationship they’ve got. There’s respect for what each other is doing.”

Pole vault star Eliza McCartney, whose personal best is 4.82m, will make her Diamond League debut for the year in Eugene, too. The women had an opening leg in Doha on May 4 but she was absent.