Tomas Walsh

Tomas Walsh
Personal information
Born 1 March 1992
Timaru, New Zealand
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Weight 120 kg (260 lb) (2014)[1]
Sport
Country  New Zealand
Sport Track and field
Event(s) Shot put
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s) 21.37 m (outdoor)
21.26 m (indoor)

Tomas "Tom" Walsh (born 1 March 1992 in Timaru)[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 21.37 m (70 ft 11⁄4 in) is the Oceanian record.

He was the bronze medallist at the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships and the silver medallist at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Biography

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 31⁄2 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 83⁄4 in) with the 6 kg shot but this was broken 9 days late by Gill with 19.92 m (65 ft 41⁄4 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 71⁄4 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 111⁄2 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 73⁄4 in) at the 2014 IAAF Diamond League meet in Glasgow on July 11,[14] before improving again to 21.24 m (69 ft 8 in) on July 27, during the qualifying round at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, which was a Commonwealth Games record.[15]

In 2015, Walsh defended his New Zealand shot put title with a throw of 20.73 m (68 ft 0 in) on March 8,[16] before setting a new Oceanian record of 21.37 m (70 ft 11⁄4 in) on March 21 at the Melbourne Track Classic.[17]

Personal bests

Outdoor
Indoor

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
National titles

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 2014 CWG profile
  2. ↑ Tomas Walsh. IAAF. Retrieved on 2014-03-09.
  3. ↑ New Zealand Athletics Records: Men Open (Outdoor)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Tom Walsh claims brilliant bronze for NZ. Stuff.co.nz (2014-03-08). Retrieved on 2014-03-09.
  5. ↑ World Youth Championships 2009. World Junior Athletic History. Retrieved on 2014-03-09.
  6. ↑ Tomas Walsh. Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2014-03-09.
  7. ↑ Jacko Gill. Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2014-03-09.
  8. ↑ World Junior Championships 2010. WJAH. Retrieved on 2014-03-09.
  9. ↑ Johnson, Len (2013-12-12). Shot putter Walsh shares spotlight with distance runners at Zatopek:10. IAAF. Retrieved on 2014-03-09.
  10. ↑ (2014-03-23). . The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved on 2014-03-23.
  11. ↑ Lewis, Paul (2014-03-09). Athletics: Bronze is pure gold. The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved on 2014-03-09.
  12. ↑ IAAF World Indoor Championships 2014: Shot Put Men - Final
  13. ↑ Minshull, Phil (2014-03-08). 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. ↑ Toby Robson (8 March 2015). "Tom Walsh wins New Zealand national shot put title". stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  17. ↑ NZ athletes on record spree in Melbourne. Retrieved on 2015-03-22.

External links