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Tom Walsh (shot putter)

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Tomas Walsh
Tomas Walsh after winning gold at the 2016 World Indoor Championships
Personal information
NationalityNew Zealand
Born (1992-03-01) 1 March 1992 (age 32)
Timaru, New Zealand
Height1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Weight120 kg (260 lb) (2014)[1]
Sport
Country New Zealand
SportTrack and field
EventShot put
ClubSouth Canterbury Athletic Club
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)22.21 m (outdoor)
21.78 m (indoor)
Medal record
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Rio de Janeiro Shot put
World Indoor Championships
Gold medal – first place 2016 Portland Shot put
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Sopot Shot put
Commonwealth Games
Silver medal – second place 2014 Glasgow Shot put

Tomas "Tom" Walsh (born 1 March 1992)[1] is a New Zealand athlete who competes mainly in the shot put.[2] He is the current national record holder both outdoors and indoors for the event.[3][4] His personal best of 22.00 m (72 ft 2 in), set at a Diamond League meet in Paris, 27 August 2016, is also the Oceanian record.

Walsh was the bronze medalist at the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships, the silver medalist at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, 4th at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics, winner of the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships, and the bronze medalist at the 2016 Olympic Games.

Athletics career

Walsh made his international debut at the 2009 World Youth Championships in Athletics, where he placed sixth in his shot put speciality and also competed in the qualifying of the discus throw.[5] On 12 December 2009 Walsh recorded a put of 20.21 m (66 ft 3+1⁄2 in) the 5 kg shot to win the Senior Boys title at the New Zealand National Secondary School Track and Field Championships. This performance was a New Zealand Youth (Under 18) record which was broken the following day by Jacko Gill when winning the Junior Boys (Under 16) title.

Walsh broke the New Zealand junior record on 18 March 2010 with a put of 18.82 m (61 ft 8+3⁄4 in) with the 6 kg shot but this was broken 9 days late by Gill with 19.92 m (65 ft 4+1⁄4 in). At the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics Walsh failed to qualify for the final of the shot put which was won by Gill.[6][7][8]

In 2012 Walsh won his first senior national shot put title which he retained the following season and also added the discus title. On 12 December 2013 Walsh broke Gill's New Zealand senior shot put record with 20.61 m (67 ft 7+1⁄4 in) in Melbourne, Australia[9] which he improved with 21.16 m (69 ft 5 in) on 22 March 2014, also in Melbourne.[10]

At the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships, in his first senior international competition and first ever competition indoors,[11] Walsh finished third in the men's shot put.[12] He set an indoor national record of 20.41 m (66 ft 11+1⁄2 in) in the qualifying round and improved upon this mark three times in the final finishing with 21.26 m (69 ft 9 in) which was an Oceanian indoor record and the same distance as the Oceanian outdoor record.[4][13]

Later in 2014, Walsh improved his outdoor personal best and the New Zealand record with 21.23 m (69 ft 7+3⁄4 in) at the 2014 IAAF Diamond League meet in Glasgow on 11 July,[14] before improving again to 21.24 m (69 ft 8 in) on 27 July, during the qualifying round at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, which was a Commonwealth Games record.[15] In the final, Walsh won the silver medal behind O'Dayne Richards.[16]

In 2015, Walsh defended his New Zealand shot put title with a throw of 20.73 m (68 ft 0 in) on 8 March,[17] before setting a new Oceanian record of 21.37 m (70 ft 1+1⁄4 in) on 21 March at the Melbourne Track Classic.[18]

Walsh finished fourth at the 2015 World Championships on 23 August in Beijing, throwing a new personal best of 21.58m.[19] He was just 11 cm off the bronze medal. He improved his personal best to 21.62m on 8 September in winning the shot put at the Hanžeković Memorial in Zagreb.[20] On 11 September Walsh won his first Diamond League meet with a throw of 21.39m in Brussels.[21]

In the 2016 World Indoor Championships, Walsh won the gold medal with a throw of 21.78m, breaking his own New Zealand national and Oceania area indoor records three times in the process.

Personal life

Walsh works part-time as a builder in Timaru.[22][23]

Statistics

Personal bests

Outdoor
Indoor
  • Shot put – 21.78 m (71 ft 5+1⁄4 in) (2016) AR NR

Shot put progression

Senior implement weight (7.26 kg) only.

Year Performance Competition Location Date World
ranking
2010 17.57 m Waitakere, New Zealand 20 February
2011 18.83 m North Shore, New Zealand 5 December 123
2012 19.33 m Amiens, France 30 June 111=
2013 20.61 m Melbourne, Australia 12 December 22=
2014 21.26 m (i) World Indoor Championships Sopot, Poland 7 March 11
21.24 m Commonwealth Games Glasgow, Scotland 27 July
2015 21.62 m Hanžeković Memorial Zagreb, Croatia 7 September 5
2015 22.21 m Hanžeković Memorial Zagreb, Croatia 5 September 2

Competition record

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
2009 World Youth Championships Brixen, Italy 6th Shot put (5 kg) 19.60 m
31st (q) Discus throw (1.5 kg) 48.83 m
2010 World Junior Championships Moncton, Canada 16th (q) Shot put (6 kg) 17.92 m
2014 World Indoor Championships Sopot, Poland 3rd Shot put 21.26 m
Commonwealth Games Glasgow, United Kingdom 2nd Shot put 21.19 m
2015 World Championships Beijing, China 4th Shot put 21.58 m
2016 World Indoor Championships Portland, United States 1st Shot put 21.78 m
Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 3rd Shot put 21.36 m
National titles
  • Shot put: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
  • Discus throw: 2013

References

  1. ^ a b c "Glasgow 2014 - Tom Walsh Profile".
  2. ^ Tomas Walsh. IAAF. Retrieved on 9 March 2014.
  3. ^ "Athletics New Zealand Rankings and Records".
  4. ^ a b Tom Walsh claims brilliant bronze for NZ. Stuff.co.nz (8 March 2014). Retrieved on 2014-03-09.
  5. ^ World Youth Championships 2009. World Junior Athletic History. Retrieved on 9 March 2014.
  6. ^ Tomas Walsh. Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 9 March 2014.
  7. ^ Jacko Gill. Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 9 March 2014.
  8. ^ World Junior Championships 2010. WJAH. Retrieved on 9 March 2014.
  9. ^ Johnson, Len (12 December 2013). Shot putter Walsh shares spotlight with distance runners at Zatopek:10. IAAF. Retrieved on 2014-03-09.
  10. ^ (2014-03-23). [1]. The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved on 23 March 2014.
  11. ^ Lewis, Paul (9 March 2014). Athletics: Bronze is pure gold. The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved on 2014-03-09.
  12. ^ "IAAF: Shot Put Series Result - IAAF World Indoor Championships 2014 - iaaf.org".
  13. ^ Minshull, Phil (8 March 2014). Report: men's shot put final – Sopot 2014. IAAF. Retrieved on 2014-03-09.
  14. ^ Matthew Brown (11 July 2014). "Hassan beats Aregawi again with a meeting record – IAAF Diamond League". IAAF. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  15. ^ Fred Woodcock (28 July 2014). "Games record for Walsh in qualifying". stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  16. ^ Mark Geenty (29 July 2014). "Tom Walsh wins silver in Games shot put". stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  17. ^ Toby Robson (8 March 2015). "Tom Walsh wins New Zealand national shot put title". stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  18. ^ NZ athletes on record spree in Melbourne. Retrieved on 22 March 2015.
  19. ^ "New Zealand's Tom Walsh pipped for shot put bronze at world championships". stuff.co.nz. 24 August 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  20. ^ "Kiwi shot putter Tom Walsh wins Zagreb World Challenge with another personal best". stuff.co.nz. 8 September 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  21. ^ "Tom Walsh wins Diamond League meet in Brussels, beats shot put world champion". stuff.co.nz. 12 September 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  22. ^ "What a shot, Tom Walsh".
  23. ^ "Rio Olympics 2016: Tom Walsh wins bronze". 19 August 2016 – via New Zealand Herald.
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