The shot putters leading the way, the continued rise of sprinter Zoe Hobbs and the emergence of steeplechaser Geordie Beamish were the most notable Kiwi aspects of the world athletics championships that finished on Monday.
New Zealand again failed to win a medal, with Tom Walsh closest, finishing fourth for the second year in a row, although being the highest-placed Kiwi was little consolation for the 2017 world champion.
Walsh was part of a triumvirate also comprising Americans Ryan Crouser and Joe Kovacs that dominated men’s shot put from 2016 to 2020 but he was pushed off the podium at last year’s world championships in Eugene after American Josh Awotunde recorded a personal best of 22.29m to finish 21cm ahead of the Kiwi.
This year in Budapest was a similar story, with Italian Leonardo Fabbri claiming silver with 22.34m — clearing 22m for the first time — while Walsh’s best of 22.05m saw him miss a medal by just 7cm behind Kovacs in third.
Crouser remains untouchable. After breaking his own championship record set last year by 4cm with 22.98m in the second round, he hurled the final put of the competition out to 23.51m, just 5cm short of the world record he set in May, winning the world title by well over a metre. And he did it with two blood clots in his left leg that put his participation in doubt.
After finishing seventh, eighth or ninth at six consecutive Olympics or world championships, Jacko Gill achieved his highest position at a global event — sixth, with a best of 21.76m.
In the women’s shot put, Maddi Wesche continued her happy habit of achieving personal bests at pinnacle events. After qualifying for the final by just 2cm in 12th, Wesche improved to seventh with 19.51m — 1cm more than the PB she set also finishing seventh at last year’s worlds. She also recorded personal bests in both qualifying and the final when placing sixth at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
After ranking 14th in the women’s 100m at last year’s worlds, Hobbs improved to 10th, clocking 11.02s in her semifinal and missing the final by just one-hundredth of a second. Having lowered her personal best to 10.96s last month, making the final at next year’s Paris Olympics looms as a tantalising target for the 25-year-old.
Beamish was New Zealand’s biggest bolter. He ranked a modest 23rd in the 5000m at last year’s worlds, missing the final by more than 12s, but a switch to the 3000m steeplechase has proven inspirational.
He broke Peter Renner’s 39-year-old national record in Monaco last month, clocking 8m 13.26s, and carried that good form into the worlds. He qualified second-fastest for the final and looked full of running at the end.
Beamish was a fast-finishing fifth in the final — the highest placing ever achieved by a Kiwi male in a track event at the worlds — around one-and-a-half seconds off the podium and two-tenths off his national record.
In an event long dominated by Africans, especially Kenyans, and in which New Zealand has done little since Renner made the 1984 Olympic final, Beamish has been sufficiently encouraged to target a medal at the 2024 Paris Games.
In other honourable mentions, Connor Bell placed 10th in the discus, Tori Peeters missed her javelin final by just 7cm, Imogen Ayris was only 3cm off her personal best of 4.53m in the pole vault and Brad Mathas was two-tenths of a second off his in the 800m. Sam Tanner missed the 1500m final by around a second but showed enough to believe a global final is within reach.
While six of the 19-strong team achieved commendable top-10 finishes — the most ever by a New Zealand team — there were also tales of underachievement, with Hamish Kerr among the highest profile.
Kerr replicated his performance at last year’s worlds by exiting at 2.25m, falling short of the final for the third time, this time by 3cm.
At least Kerr cleared a height. Pole vaulter Eliza McCartney, finally back at the highest level after years of injury issues, failed all three of her attempts at her opening height of 4.50m.
From an international perspective, American Noah Lyles went some way to filling the Usain Bolt-shaped hole in track and field’s global profile by fulfilling his brash prediction of three gold medals in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay.
In the women’s sprints, American Sha’Carri Richardson won the 100m from lane nine after missing the 2021 Tokyo Olympics due to a suspension for cannabis use. And Jamaican Shericka Jackson ran the second-fastest time ever in the 200m — 21.41s, just seven-hundredths of a second from Florence Griffith-Joyner’s tainted 35-year-old world record.
Kenyan Faith Kipyegon became the first woman to win the 1500m and 5000m at the same world championships — she is the world record holder in both events and now boasts six global golds.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen was aiming for the same double, and after being upset by a British runner in his favoured 1500m, the Norwegian showed fortitude to take out the 5000m — a repeat of what unfolded at last year’s worlds. Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei won his third straight 10,000m gold.
Femke Bol produced the competition’s best redemption story. After face-planting metres from the line and blowing a medal in the mixed 4x400m relay, the first track final, she went on to win the 400m hurdles and then staged a spectacular finish to surge from third to first and snatch gold for the Netherlands in the women’s 4x400m relay, the last track final.
Yulimar Rojas pulled off arguably the best clutch finish. The Venezuelan was heavily favoured to win a fourth consecutive world title in the women’s triple jump but was languishing in eighth on 14.33m with just one jump remaining — at which point she cleared 15.08m to win by 8cm.
Perhaps the most surprising winner was Laulauga Tausaga, a Hawaiian of Samoan heritage who shattered her personal best by a staggering four metres to win the women’s discus with 69.49m.
Olympic champ Ellesse Andrews and the St Thomas of Canterbury College First XIII feature.