Athletics: Walsh out from Jacko's shadow

For now, Tom Walsh is happy enough flying under the radar but don't be surprised if another Kiwi teenager achieves the Olympic qualifying standard for the men's shot put before the summer is out.

The eyes of the world are fixed on Auckland kid Jacko Gill (16), who hurled 20.38m to shatter his own national record and seemingly book his ticket for London last week. But while the country celebrated Gill's talent, Walsh (19) was quietly putting together a remarkable performance of his own.

In fact, the apprentice builder was far more consistent than his younger rival, adding 57 centimetres to his personal best and landing four other throws beyond that previous mark. His 18.83m makes him the world's third-best junior with a 7.26kg senior implement this year, behind Gill and Pole Krzysztof Brzozowski (19.18m). It also ties him for fourth place on the New Zealand all-time rankings behind Gill, and former Commonwealth Games shot medallists Les Mills (19.80m) and Courtney Ireland (19.45m), and equal with former Commonwealth Games discus champion Robin Tait.

History is littered with great athletes who have toiled in the shadow of superstars, largely unnoticed. Tait played second fiddle to Mills his entire career until finally breaking through at Christchurch in 1974. Perhaps that will be Walsh's fate.

"To be honest, when Jacko first came on the scene, I was a bit jealous," he admits. "Now I realise that's not a bad thing for me. I'm just in the background, working away, and the people who know about the sport know I'm here - that's all that matters. Jacko's getting all the hype, but he deserves it, there's no doubt about that."

In some ways, Walsh is the polar opposite of Gill. Born and raised in Timaru, his sporting career has revolved around the Kiwi staples of rugby, where he played No8 for the South Island under-16 team, and cricket, having represented Canterbury age group teams as an all-rounder. This is really the first summer he's pursued athletics as his top priority, although he has represented his country internationally over the past three years.

"I was more interested in cricket until about a year ago but I started to talk to other athletes around the world. They had done all this training, yet I was just a newbie and throwing just as far as them. It made me realise I could go a lot further."

At 1.83m and just over 105kg, there is certainly some growth left in him. While Walsh considers himself technically sound, he acknowledges his strength and explosive power needs work.

"I was pretty happy with my results last week," he says. "They're probably a bit ahead of where I thought I'd be. I'd love to qualify for the Olympics but it's definitely going to be hard - I'd say a 40/60 chance at this stage." Gill's presence just makes Walsh's job a little harder. Gill has already achieved the Athletics NZ selection standard of 20.30m, they'll need to surpass the international A standard of 20.50m if both are to appear at London.

The pair will face off again tomorrow at Auckland's Sovereign Stadium in the second of three special record attempts. This time, Gill will focus on beating the world junior record of 22.73m with a 6kg shot. Walsh will take aim at 20.93m, good enough to take him past Brzozowski and give New Zealand the world's two best junior shot putters for the year.