Tomas Walsh (born 1 March 1992) is a New Zealand

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

who competes mainly in the

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

.Tomas Walsh

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

. Retrieved on 9 March 2014. He is the current national record holder both outdoors and indoors for the event.Tom Walsh claims brilliant bronze for NZ
Stuff.co.nz (8 March 2014). Retrieved on 9 March 2014. His personal best of , set in

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

, 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 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was the fifteenth edition of the international indoor track and field competition, organised by the IAAF. The event was held between 7–9 March 2014 at the Ergo Arena in Sopot, Poland. Prepar ...

, the silver medallist at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

, 4th at the

2015 World Championships in Athletics The 2015 IAAF World Championships ( zh, 第十五届世界田径锦标赛), the fifteenth edition of the IAAF World Championships, were held from 22 to 30 August at the National Stadium in Beijing, China. Forty-three nations won medals, 144 of ...

, winner of the

2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 16th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held between March 17 and 20, 2016 in Portland, Oregon, United States. The event did not feature Russia. Following a WADA investigation into widespread and institutional doping practices ...

, the bronze medallist at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

, the gold medallist at the 2017 World Championships and the bronze medallist at the 2019 World Championships,

2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships The 18th World Athletics Indoor Championships were held from 18 to 20 March 2022 in Belgrade, Serbia. Ethiopia headed the medal table, with 4 gold medals. United States won the most medals, with 19, as well as getting the second highest number o ...

and the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

, and gold medallist at the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England betw ...

Athletics career

Walsh made his international debut at the

2009 World Youth Championships in Athletics The 2009 World Youth Championships in Athletics is the sixth edition of the IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics. They were held at Brixen-Bressanone Sport Arena in Bressanone, Italy from 8–12 July 2009. Athletes had to be aged 16 or ...

, where he placed sixth in his shot put speciality and also competed in the qualifying of the

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...

. On 12 December 2009 Walsh recorded a put of 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 with the 6 kg shot but this was broken 9 days later by Gill with . At the

2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to s ...

Walsh failed to qualify for the final of the shot put which was won by Gill.Tomas Walsh
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 9 March 2014. 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 in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

which he improved with on 22 March 2014, also in Melbourne. At the

, 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 in the qualifying round and improved upon this mark three times in the final finishing with 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 at the

2014 IAAF Diamond League The 2014 IAAF Diamond League was the fifth edition of the annual Diamond League. It consisted of fourteen one-day track and field meetings, starting on May 9, 2014, in Doha, Qatar and ending on September 5, 2014, in Brussels, Belgium. Other events ...

meet in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

on 11 July, before improving again to on 27 July, during the qualifying round at the

, which was a Commonwealth Games record. In the final, Walsh won the silver medal behind

O'Dayne Richards O'Dayne Valentin Richards (born 14 December 1988 in St. Andrew) is a Jamaican athlete competing in the shot put and discus throw. He studied at the University of Technology, Jamaica The University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech, Ja.), form ...

. In 2015, Walsh defended his New Zealand shot put title with a throw of on 8 March, before setting a new Oceanian record of on 21 March at the

Melbourne Track Classic The Maurie Plant Meet – Melbourne is an annual outdoor track and field meeting which takes place in February at the Lakeside Stadium in Melbourne, Australia since 2023. Last held under the old name, Melbourne Track Classic, in early March 2016, ...

. Walsh finished fourth at the 2015 World Championships on 23 August in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, throwing a new personal best of 21.58m. He was just 11 cm off the bronze medal. He improved his personal best to 21.62m on 8 September in winning the shot put at the

Hanžeković Memorial Hanžeković Memorial (), known also as Zagreb Meeting and Hanžek (hypocorism of the surname ''Hanžeković''), is an annual three-day Athletics (sport), athletics event held first weekend of September at three different locations in Zagreb, Cro ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

. On 11 September Walsh won his first

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions. The inaugural season was ...

meet with a throw of 21.39m in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. 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 The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

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 The 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships () was the seventeenth edition of the biennial, global sport of athletics, athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since renamed World Athleti ...

to set a new Oceanian record. He finished in third place. At the

in Tokyo, Walsh took third place once again, with a throw of 22.47m. At the

, Walsh equalled his own indoor Oceanian record.

Personal life

Walsh works part-time as a builder in

Timaru Timaru (; ) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to peo ...

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

Ranfurly Shield The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Shield is based on a challenge system. The holding union must defend the shield in challenge ...

Statistics

Personal bests

;Outdoor *

Shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

– Doha (2019) *

Discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...

– (2014) ;Indoor *Shot put – (2018, 2022)

Shot put season's best

Senior implement weight (7.26 kg) only.

Competition record

;

Notes

References

External links

* * *
Tom Walsh
at the

Paris 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

(archived
alternate link
* * * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Tom 1992 births Living people New Zealand male shot putters Olympic male shot putters Olympic athletes for New Zealand Olympic bronze medalists for New Zealand Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games silver medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2022 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for New Zealand World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Championships winners World Athletics Indoor Championships winners Diamond League winners Australian Athletics Championships winners People educated at Timaru Boys' High School Sportspeople from Timaru Athletes from the Canterbury Region Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games New Zealand Athletics Championships winners Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen