Tom Walsh (shot putter)

Tomas Walsh (born 1 March 1992) is a New Zealand athlete who competes mainly in the shot put. He is the current national record holder both outdoors and indoors for the event. His personal best of 22.90m (75ft1+1⁄2in), set in Doha, 5 October 2019, is also the Oceanian record and makes him the seventh best shot putter in history.

Walsh was the bronze medallist at the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships, the silver medallist at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, 4th at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics, winner of the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships, the bronze medallist at the 2016 Summer Olympics, the gold medallist at the 2017 World Championships and the bronze medallist at the 2019 World Championships, 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships and the 2020 Summer Olympics, and gold medallist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Athletics career

Walsh made his international debut at the 2009 World Youth Championships in Athletics, where he placed sixth in the shot put and also competed in the qualifying of the discus throw. On 12 December 2009 Walsh threw 20.21m (66ft3+1⁄2in) with the 5kg 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 18.82m (61ft8+3⁄4in) with the 6kg shot but this was broken 9 days later by Gill with 19.92m (65ft4+1⁄4in). At the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics Walsh failed to qualify for the final of the shot put which was won by Gill.

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 20.61m (67ft7+1⁄4in) in Melbourne, Australia which he improved with 21.16m (69ft 5in) on 22 March 2014, also in Melbourne.

At the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships, in his first senior international competition and first ever competition indoors, Walsh finished third in the men's shot put. He set an indoor national record of 20.41m (66ft11+1⁄2in) in the qualifying round and improved upon this mark three times in the final finishing with 21.26m (69ft 9in) which was an Oceanian indoor record and the same distance as the Oceanian outdoor record.

Later in 2014, Walsh improved his outdoor personal best and the New Zealand record with 21.23m (69ft7+3⁄4in) at the 2014 IAAF Diamond League meet in Glasgow on 11 July, before improving again to 21.24m (69ft 8in) on 27 July, during the qualifying round at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, which was a Commonwealth Games record. In the final, Walsh won the silver medal behind O'Dayne Richards.

In 2015, Walsh defended his New Zealand shot put title with a throw of 20.73m (68ft 0in) on 8 March, before setting a new Oceanian record of 21.37m (70ft1+1⁄4in) on 21 March at the Melbourne Track Classic.

Walsh finished fourth at the 2015 World Championships on 23 August in Beijing, throwing a new personal best of 21.58m. He was just 11cm 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. On 11 September Walsh won his first Diamond League meet with a throw of 21.39m in Brussels.

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. He went on to take the bronze medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, with 21.36m, and the following year won the 2017 IAAF World Championships with 22.03m.

Walsh retained his World Indoor title at the 2018 World Indoor Championships, with a then personal best of 22.31m. He surpassed this with 22.67m on 25 March the same year, at the Sir Graeme Douglas International Track Challenge in West Auckland, New Zealand, moving him into the top-10 World All-Time.

At the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, Walsh threw 22.45m, setting a new Commonwealth Games record en route to qualify for the Shot Put Men's final.

In 2019, Walsh threw 22.90m in the first round of the 2019 World Athletics Championships to set a new Oceanian record. He finished in third place.

At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Walsh took third place once again, with a throw of 22.47m. At the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships, Walsh equalled his own indoor Oceanian record.

Personal life

Walsh works part-time as a builder in Timaru.

Tom's father, Peter, won the New Zealand junior men's shot put in the 1964–65 season[citation needed] and was a member of the 1974 South Canterbury Rugby side that won the Ranfurly Shield.[citation needed]

Statistics

Personal bests

Outdoor

• Shot put – 22.90m (75ft1+1⁄2in) Doha (2019) Commonwealth Record AR NR
• Discus throw – 53.58m (175ft9+1⁄4in) (2014)

Indoor

• Shot put – 22.31m (73ft2+1⁄4in) (2018, 2022) AR NR

Shot put season's best

Senior implement weight (7.26kg) only.

Competition record

Notes

External links

• atWorld Athletics
• at theNew Zealand Olympic Committee
• atOlympedia
• at InterSportStats
• at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics (archived, )
• at theGlasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games
• at theGlasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games(archived)
• at theGold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games(archived)
• atOlympics.com
• onInstagram