Diamond League x Flying Kiwis: The Class of 2017
If you aren’t aware of this already, The Niche Cache is firmly of the belief (signed off by our Advisory Board and everything) that Shot Put is the national sport of Aotearoa. And 2016 was a fantastic year for New Zealand Shot Putting, one of the finest we’ve ever seen.
It was an Olympic year and while Valerie Adams was coming back from injury and poor form, going into the final round at Rio it looked like she’d done enough for a legendary third straight gold medal in the event. But American Michelle Carter threw a personal best (and USA record) to earn a place atop the podium with her final throw. Still a silver for Queen Val though, another accolade in an incredible career. Over in the men’s, meanwhile, we witnessed two kiwi lads competing for medals as both Tom Walsh and Jacko Gill qualified for the final. Jacko slipped back into ninth but Tommy launched a big one to claim an unexpected bronze medal. NZ medallists in both male and female disciplines of the same event, incredible.
But that was far from the end. As the European season resumed around the Rio Games, both Walsh and Adams were back in business in the Diamond League. For Adams it was pretty much a case of just turning up a few times to complete a record fifth Diamond League title in the Shot Put. After missing the first event of the season, she then won three of the four meets she attended – coming second in the other – before heading to Rio. After Rio she got a little revenge by beating Michelle Carter in the next DL comp, before Carter topped her for first in the season closer – which hardly mattered at that point because Val had already secured the overall tour victory just by coming second.
Adams was expected to win, Walsh not so much. Yet he did, meaning not only did both medal at the Olympics but both also took home the top Diamond League honours as well. Walshy had to do it the hard way. With Olympic champion Ryan Crouser (USA) in competition, he came out and set two New Zealand records in Paris before crushing that at the final in Zurich with a monster 22.20m throw. With Crouser also topping 22m, it was only the second time in 27 years that two men had thrown 22+ in an outdoor meet. The only bigger throw of 2016 was Crouser’s Olympic-winning mark of 22.52cm – Walsh breaking his own PB three times and by 58cm in the space of about a week.
Walshy, by the way, became only the second New Zealander to win a Diamond Race title. It was an enormous year for him, while for Adams it was more of the same incredible dominance, bouncing back from that injury-plagued 2015 to achieve what she did. In 39 career Diamond League event appearances she has 37 scoring finishes and 28 event victories. Pole Vaulter Renaud Lavillenie (France), with 32, and Discus thrower Sandra Perkovic (Croatia), with 34, are the only athletes with more DL event wins. Adams is also one of four people (Perkovic has done it twice) to have had perfect Diamond League seasons, winning all seven events as Val did in 2014.
However you might have heard whispers that Valerie Adams ain’t on the circuit this season. No kidding, because back in April it was revealed that she and husband Gabriel Price were expecting their first child, due in October. Along with the wonders of bringing a child into the world there is also an obvious window of time now where she won’t be competing. Hey, if you’re gonna take some time off then now, straight after the Olympics, is as good as any. It means she won’t be adding to those Diamond League records, nor will she be representing Aotearoa at the Athletics World Champs in August… but the plan right now is still to try get back for the Commonwealth Games next year – about six months after she’s due to give birth. (Dame Valerie was also knighted in the New Year’s Honours, so a pretty significant year so far despite not even competing).
And yet the kiwi Diamond League contingent has actually grown without its long-time pioneer. Tom Walsh is obviously back to defend his crown but he’s also been joined by Olympic bronze medallist Eliza McCartney after her exploits in Rio.
Walsh first. The Men’s Shot Put is a little streamlined this year, with only five events including the final. As such, six overall events and a month and a half into the DL season, there’s only been one Men’s Shot Put meet so far… but it was a goodie.
The Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon took place in late May and featured a hugely powerful field. Walsh was there, clearly, as was Ryan Crouser. The two had gone head to head in New Zealand earlier in the year with Crouser comfortably winning with a best throw of 22.15m. Walsh still threw a 21.80m best which remains his top mark in 2017, though American Darrell Hill has topped that this year, as has Joe Kovacs whose 22.57m shot in Tuscon a week or two earlier had eclipsed even Crouser’s Olympic-winning distance (Kovacs won silver in Rio). Both were in Eugene, as were Congo’s Franck Elemba (fourth placed in Rio), two-time World Champ and 2012 Olympic silver medallist David Storl of Germany with Kurt Roberts (USA) and 20 year old Konrad Bukowiecki (Poland) rounding out the group. To summarise, that’s the top five distances of 2017, all three Rio medallists plus fourth place and multiple World Champions represented in Eugene.
It was Crouser who dominated, predictably. He threw 21.89m in his first attempt which would’ve won the meet all on its own, but with his fifth attempt he went and beat it with 22.43m – well beyond Walshy’s PB of 22.21m. Despite the form of Kovacs coming in, he struggled here and fouled three of his last four throws. Hill and Storl also drew the red flag on three occasions, finishing fourth and fifth respectively. Walsh came out with a 21.71m throw first up and never quite got his rhythm going but all four of his measured shots came in at 21.20m or further. Didn’t top that first throw to earn him second place in Oregon. Not the worst way to start his Diamond Race defence.
Since then Walsh has been hard in training overseas. He doesn’t have another DL meet for another few weeks when they Shot Put lads get together in Lausanne and Rabat over the space of ten days in July. Then it’s August 20 in Birmingham and the final in Zurich four days later. In between there’ll be plenty of lesser events, mostly on the European circuit, but the main focus will be August’s World Championships in London.
Also hoping for big things in London, Eliza McCartney hasn’t had such a decent time of it lately. An Achilles injury affected her last two Diamond League events as she came in at 4.55m in Oslo and missed all three goes, failing to log a clearance, and then in Stockholm a few days later she topped 4.20m on the first attempt (as you’d expect) but failed three straight times on 4.40m. Only a week earlier in Rome she’d cleared 4.75m at the third attempt for third place and a few points on the board. Going for a personal best of 4.85m for second, she couldn’t quite get it done while Olympic Champ Katerina Stefanidi (Greece) vaulted the height on the first go and only failed trying for a new World Record of 5.07m – a little optimistic there, to be honest.
It doesn’t take much to see that the injury has affected Eliza. From a national record of 4.82m (also the T-12th best mark ever) in Auckland earlier this year to failing to clear 4.40m in Sweden. The word from the team is that it’s only a strain rather than a tear, so it shouldn’t keep her out of the next DL showing in London in early July but she’s having scans just in case. That London meet is the last for the Diamond Race before the World Champs there a month later, so it’ll be a pretty popular event.
Most of the top Pole Vaulters have eased into the year, McCartney herself skipped the Doha event that opened the Women’s PV schedule. As such and with that third place earlier she’s still well in contention to challenge for the Diamond Race title, sitting on seven points only 14 back from the leader – Cuba’s Yarisley Silva (who has been to all four DL events so far). Stefanidi and Sandi Morris (USA), who took the other medals in Rio, have each only been to two events. Lots to fight for once that heel clears up.
Also a bit exciting, the latest Diamond League meet in Stockholm happened to be the series debut for Waikato distance runner Camille Buscomb. The 26 year old missed qualification for the Rio Games in the 5000m by four seconds but since then has had a fantastic career spike that’s seen her not only qualify for the 5000m at the London World Champs but also the 10k run too.
Buscomb’s breakthrough can probably be pinpointed to a single race in California at Stanford where she absolutely smashed 41 seconds off her 10,000m best with a 31:45 finish. Beat the qualifying mark for London by 30 seconds. In the wake of that came the 5000m qualification and a new PB there and then, over the weekend, the 3000m at the Diamond League in Stockholm.
The 3000m isn’t an Olympic event and this was only a promotional race, not a part of a larger Diamond Race competition. Hence the field wasn’t the strongest but it will have been a good experience for Buscomb who finished in eighth with a time of 9:08.74, three seconds off her personal best over the distance which was maybe a little disappointing not to better. But she’s been focussing on longer distances lately so no worries. Sweden’s Meraf Bahta won it with a time of 8:47.07.
And a shout out to young hurdler Campbell Wu who took part in the Folksam Challenge in Sweden, sort of a concurrent lesser side of the Diamond League event featuring a mostly local contingent of competitors. He ran a 53.99 in the 400m hurdles there, though that wasn’t quite quick enough to finish ahead of any of the other five runners he went up against. Maybe next time, son.
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