Tom Walsh laments ‘two fourths in a row’ as Ryan Crouser claims another shot put world title

Kiwi hopeful Tom Walsh has been shut out of the medals in a men’s shot put final once again dominated by American world record-holder Ryan Crouser on the opening night of the world athletics championships in Budapest.

The 31-year-old Cantabrian had to settle for fourth for a second consecutive world championships as he could only manage a best throw of 22.05 metres in the fifth round at the National Athletics Stadium. That was well down on his season best of 22.58 set in London in his last hitout before the global event, and 7cm shy of what was required to get among the medals in the Hungarian capital on Sunday (NZT).

Crouser, shrugging off a pair of small blood clots in his lower left leg that put his participation in doubt, stormed to a second straight world title, to go with his pair of Olympic golds, with a dramatic final throw of 23.51m, which was just 5cm shy of his world record set earlier this year in Los Angeles and a championships-best.

In what was another storied performance from the 2.01-metre American, he produced a stunning series to make light of his pre-championships revelation that he had been diagnosed with twin blood clots after a challenging buildup he called “the most frustrating and stressful of my life”.

He had required anticoagulant medication (blood thinners) to travel to Budapest and said the decision to travel and compete had been left to him. He discovered the clots after a suspected calf strain failed to clear as expected.

It certainly did not knock him off his stride as he opened with 22.63m in Budapest, added a championship record 22.98m in the second round, 22.28 in the third and then, after two fouls, finished with that brilliant 23.51 – the second best throw of his storied career.

Italian Leonardo Fabbri was the surprise silver medallist with a PB of 22.34m in the third round, while American Joe Kovacs claimed the bronze, and nudged Walsh off the podium,.with his penultimate throw of 22.12m. It was Kovacs’ fifth consecutive medal at the world championship level.

Walsh never quite found the top form he had been hopeful of in a frustrating series that saw him open with a foul, then go 21.69m, 21.93m, 21.40m, 22.05m and 21.51m.

Fellow Kiwi Jacko Gill finished sixth with a best toss of 21.76m in the third round. The Aucklander’s series was: 20.33, 21.46, 21.76, 21.33, 21.02 and 21.28.

Gill briefly held second place with his third-round 21.76m, but was soon overtaken by Walsh’s own third toss of 21.93m and dropped down the field as the heavyweights delivered at the business end.

“I’m happy with the shape I’m in … so to not take advantage of that is pretty frustrating,” Walsh said afterwards. “Two fourths in a row (at world championships) is not a lovely position, that’s for sure.

“Anyone is capable of it in the men’s shot put right now, so it was not unexpected that Fabbri would throw a long way. It is awesome for him and frustrating for everyone else involved.

“Ryan threw really well with his last throw. I definitely didn’t feel like he was out of reach for any of us into the last round. I’m just disappointed in myself not putting a throw together. I felt like I could have really made him work for it.”

Meanwhile, earlier in the first evening session Sam Tanner progressed safely to Monday’s 1500m semifinals when he came home fourth in comfortably the slowest of the four heats.

The Tauranga athlete got himself in a tight spot in a bunched final lap, but found the kick down the inside lane when it mattered to notch 3 minutes 46.93 seconds in a blanket finish that saw the six qualifiers separated by just 0.32sec. The heat was won by Spain’s Mario Garcia in 3:46.77.

“It was a tactical one,” he said after. “We got out slow for the first two laps and I was pretty comfortable with who I was following. The inside lane opened up with 100m to go, so I made a bit of a (Nick) Willis move.”

The other three 1500m heats were all somewhat quicker, with 22-year-old Norwegian Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen winning the opening qualifier in 3:33.94 – the fastest time of the day as he was the only athlete to dip under the 3:34 mark.

Kiwi sprinter Tiaan Whelpton bowed out of the men’s 100 metres in disappointing fashion, finishing sixth in the opening heat in just 10.26sec – well off his PB of 10.14. Only the top three in each qualifier progressed automatically.

Heavyweights Americans Fred Kerley, Christian Coleman and Noah Lyles all made it comfortably into Monday’s semis with sub-10sec efforts, though the fastest time of the heats went to Jamaica’s Oblique Seville who sizzled to victory in an equal-PB of 9.86sec in the fifth of the qualifiers.

And national discus champion Connor Bell also failed to advance to his final, finishing 13th in qualifying –one place and 7cm shy of his goal. The 22-year-old Aucklander produced just one counting throw – a second-round 63.72m – but it was not quite enough to clinch a spot in the top dozen.

In the opening session Kiwi Geordie Beamish continued his stellar debut season in the 3000m steeplechase when he cruised into Wednesday’s final with a poised performance to place second in heat two in a slick 8min 16.36sec.

In his first year of senior steeplechasing, the 26-year-old smashed the 39-year-old national record in Monaco last month – clocking 8:13.26 – ande continued that impressive form inside the Budapest stadium.

Running the first 2km conservatively, he cruised through the field to finish behind world record-holder Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia, who topped the qualifiers in 8:15.89.

“I’m happy to make the final,” said Beamish. “I had a disappointing worlds last year in Eugene (when he missed out on the 5000m final), so it’s nice to come back this year and get the job done.”

The final (early Wednesday NZT) will be only the eighth senior steeplechase race of his career.