Whacko! Jacko downs Walsh
The shot put scene in New Zealand suddenly ignited on Saturday when Jacko Gill dethroned Tom Walsh as national men’s shot put champion after a 13-year reign.
Facing off for the first time this summer at the national track and field championships in Wellington, Gill threw 21.8m while Walsh could only muster 21.25m as his best effort.
Gill, 28, went further than 21.25m with four of his other five throws and became the first man other than Walsh, 31, to claim the national title since 2009.
Walsh won the national youth title that year, an honour Gill made his own the following year, but since then it has been all Walsh when it comes to success on New Zealand athletics’ biggest stage.
Gill began with a 21.27m effort at Newtown Park on Saturday and steadily increased from there, throwing 21.44m and 21.75m before hitting 21.8m with his fourth attempt. Walsh meanwhile began with 21.2m and improved to 21.25m with his second attempt, but failed to improve with any of his four attempts from there.
Needing to put pressure on Gill with his sixth and final effort, Walsh only threw 21.1m and after Gill completed his final throw, he was able to begin some long overdue celebrations.
The Kiwi rivals finished first and second at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in England, with Walsh throwing 22.26m and Gill throwing 21.9m
That mark was a new personal best for Gill and a sign he was at the top of his game.
Ahead of the national championships, Walsh had expressed frustration that he and Gill had not gone head to head more often this summer, with Gill resting after a tiring end to 2022.
Speaking before the Christchurch International Track Meet last month, Walsh told Stuff: ‘‘It is a shame he’s not here and I’d love to have him around’’.
Now that Gill has usurped Walsh to claim his first national title, there will only be more interest in seeing them face off going forward.
Meanwhile, Eliza McCartney said she was grateful just to be competing at all, after winning her first national pole vault title in six years with a massive season’s best.
Achilles and hamstring injuries have plagued the 2016 Rio Olympics bronze medallist since her last triumph in 2017, but she cleared 4.61m and beat last year’s champion, Olivia McTaggart, on countback on Saturday.
McCartney, 26, said she felt ‘‘really, really good’’ during the women’s pole vault.
‘‘It’s been many, many years since I’ve competed at nationals and to be out here, I’m just really grateful that I get to do it again and to have a really competitive pole vault [competition] – that was amazing. We were jumping with each other, we were able to egg each other on and have a really cool environment and I don’t know if I’ve had that in New Zealand before, so it was a really cool champs to come back for.’’
McCartney was competing against McTaggart and last year’s Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Imogen Ayris, who all cleared 4.46m then lifted the bar another 15cm.
Ayris could not clear 4.61m in three attempts – her personal best is 4.50m – and had to settle for third, leaving McCartney and McTaggart vaulting for the national title.
McCartney cleared 4.61m with her second effort and McTaggart was successful with her third, then raising the bar to 4.71m – the automatic qualifying height for the world championships in Budapest in Hungary in August.
The standard was high – 4.60m was good enough to win the Commonwealth Games title in Birmingham last August.
However, neither were successful in three leaps at 4.71m and McCartney was declared the winner having cleared 4.61m in fewer attempts. McTaggart finished second despite her valiant efforts at 4.71m – a mark 6cm higher than her personal best of 4.65m.
McCartney’s personal best of 4.94m was set in Germany in 2018.
Cantabrian Hamish Kerr retained his national title in the men’s long jump with a winning height of 2.20m.