Walsh is really happy with season
Two training sessions might have given him the distance he needed to claim a medal in the shot put at the athletics world championships in Beijing, but Timaru’s Tom Walsh is pleased with his season despite that fourth place finish.
After arriving back in New Zealand after a season in Europe, Walsh reiterated that a lack of a medal was perhaps the only thing missing from a year which saw him consistently challenge the world’s best.
After recovering from a hip injury before the meet, the 23-yearold would have welcomed two more training sessions before he competed in his first ever senior outdoor world championships, where he missed out on bronze by the small matter of 11cm.
‘‘We did what we could you know,’’ Walsh said.
‘‘That injury put me back about two weeks of throwing training.
‘‘It wasn’t ideal but the world championships aren’t going to change the date so you’ve got to make the best of what you’ve got.’’
Walsh finished his season by beating the men who took home the medals in the last few weeks, but he didn’t feel as though he had peaked a few weeks too late.
‘‘I felt like maybe if it was two training sessions later, maybe even one that would have been really good but look, I’m really happy.’’
Walsh won four out of his last five competitions, along the way becoming the youngest ever winner of a shot put event at the Brussels Diamond League and broke into the top 50 world all-lime list, which left him feeling a fair degree of satisfaction.
‘‘I’ve improved my personal best, I’ve improved my average throws, the only thing missing was that medal,’’ Walsh said.
‘‘But look, it was a hell of a comp at world championships and I felt there was no reason, well, we didn’t do anything wrong, we did out best.’’
Walsh has benefited from having his coach Dale Stevenson travel with him during the athletics season, and would now talk with his team about what areas they could target for improvement for 2016.
He felt his mental skills were ‘‘bang on’’ but there was just a little bit of physical fatigue over the course of the season that has seen him travel to North America and around Europe. ‘‘It hasn’t been too busy at all. ‘‘The last five competitions have been, but I was over there and I have to pay for the trip somehow.
‘‘Everyone does it, all the shot put guys do it.
‘‘But prior to that it wasn’t too busy, everything we did was what we wanted to do and we weren’t forced to do anything, so it’ll be much the same next year.’’
Improving his throws to consistently hit a mark around 21.5 metres is a huge improvement, he’s happy with the way it’s going and confident that a big throw is on it’s way.
‘‘I know the type of form I was in before world champs.
‘‘There was a big one there, it just didn’t eventuate, but that’s just the way it is.’’