Walsh retains world indoor shot put crown in style
BIRMINGHAM: New Zealand shot putter Tom Walsh has retained his world indoor athletics crown with a championshiprecord throw of 22.31m in Birmingham.
The reigning dual world champion led the competition from start to finish with an opening throw of 22.13m and then saved his best until last with a lifetime best mark.
The 26yearold beat German rival David Storl, a twotime former world champion, with Tomas Stanek, of the Czech Republic, taking the bronze.
‘‘I came here to win but I knew that I would have to throw well to beat these guys,’’ Walsh said.
‘‘It was a crazy competition but I finished with a boom.
‘‘I came here to retain my title and it is a good feeling to achieve that.’’
Walsh said his win set him up perfectly for next month’s Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast where he will seek to add gold to the silver he won in Glasgow four years ago.
‘‘I’m in good nick for it,’’ he said. ‘‘The Comm Games gold is one of the things I don’t have on my resume.
‘‘I got silver four years ago and I really need to go well there.’’
Kiwi young gun Eliza McCartney finished fourth in the women’s pole vault.
The 21yearold cleared an indoor personalbest height of 4.7m to reach medal contention in Birmingham, but could not get over 4.80m.
Greek athlete Katerina Stefanidi cleared that height late to secure third, behind American Sandi Morris and Russian Anzhelika Sidorova.
Nevertheless, the Aucklandbased Rio Olympic bronze medallist will take heart from her display as the Commonwealth Games approach.
Her result was also a New Zealand and Oceania indoor record. — NZN
TWENTYTHREE meet records fell at the Otago secondary school championships at the Caledonian Ground on Saturday.
John McGlashan College’s Josh Hou took three of those in the under15 boys 800m, 1500m and 3000m.
Arguably the most impressive of those came in the 3000m, in which he ran 9min 14.45sec to take nearly 12 seconds off the previous record.
Mount Aspiring College’s Abby Fisher ran 12.83sec and 26.57sec to smash the girls under14 100m and 200m records.
Flynn Murdoch, of King’s High School, did the same in the under16 grade, with 11.28sec, to equal the 100m record, and 22.69 to set a 200m one.
Otago Girls’ High School’s Emma McKay took records in both the under15 girls long jump and triple jump.
She cleared 5.16m in the long jump and the previous mark was also broken by secondplaced Sarah Langsbury. McLay jumped 10.94m in the triple jump.
Otago Boys’ High School’s Cameron Moffitt won the boys under15 80m hurdles and under16 300m hurdles records in 11.52sec and 40.52sec to set two records.
Others to set marks were Mikairi BeauchampMoore (Blue Mountain College), Zharna Beattie (Taieri College), Jamin Millar (Otago Boys’ High School), Gemma Millar (Otago Girls’ High School), Hamish Mears (Taieri College), Tegan Chapman (Dunstan High School), Doug Smith (Maniototo Area School), Zion Niha (Otago Boys’ High School), Zoe Smith (Mount Aspiring College), Tara McNally (Taieri College), Alex Brown (King’s High School) and Ben Baines (Taieri College).