Kiwi throwers ease into final
Tom Walsh set the standard in qualifying for the men’s shot put at the world athletics championships, and he will be joined in the final by fellow Kiwi Jacko Gill.
Walsh got his title defence off to a flying start in Doha, with his first and only throw of 21.92 metres sailing over the automatic qualifying mark by more than a metre.
Walsh topped group A ahead of Diamond League record holder Darlan Romani (21.69m) of Brazil. None of the competitors from the second group were able to better those efforts, with Olympic champion Ryan Crouser qualifying third overall with a heave of 21.67m.
‘‘I wanted to come out tonight and throw one and get it over and done with, and put the feet up as fast as I can, so that’s what I managed to do along with three other guys,’’ Walsh said.
Gill followed his lead as the 24-year-old threw 21.12m in his first attempt in group B, comfortably clearing the auto-qualifying mark of 20.90m to finish seventh overall.
Gill spent time preparing for the championships alongside Walsh at the Athletics New Zealand camp in Cyprus, which invaluable.
‘‘It was really awesome to train with Tom and having everything literally outside of the hotel room was really good, so I’m very lucky to be on those camps and have the best he said was preparation possible,’’ Gill said.
‘‘It’s feeling good. Still a lot to learn, a few things I could do better for the final, so we’ll sit down to make those changes.’’
After battling heart problems over the past two years, Gill’s performance yesterday continued his impressive progress in 2019.
He set personal bests in each of his past three competitions heading into the event, which currently stands at 21.47m.
‘‘I doubted myself a lot when I was sick so it’s nice to be out here now,’’ Gill added. ‘‘It was a long road back, I’ve been through some pretty dark places, so it means a lot more than what it did at my first [world championships] so I’m really happy to be here.’’
Twelve throwers have qualified for the final, which takes place at 7.05am tomorrow (NZ time).
New Zealand’s Camille Buscomb also competes in the 5000m final tomorrow while Malcolm Hicks and Caden Shields run in the marathon.