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

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-dev ...

who competes mainly in the

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

.Tomas Walsh

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

. 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 ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') 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, it is home to most of the c ...

, 5 October 2019, is also the Oceanian record and makes him the sixth 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. Prepa ...

, the silver medallist at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

, 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 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, despite winning only nine in total. United States, second on gold medals won with 3, won ...

and the 2020 Summer Olympics, 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, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

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 1 ...

, 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 event in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an ancient sport, as demonstrated by t ...

. 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 Jackson Gill (born 20 December 1994) is a New Zealand track and field athlete who competes in the shot put. Gill throws with his right hand, using the spin technique. In 2010, he won gold in the shot put at the World Junior Championships at ...

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 The 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition for athletes under the age of 20 which was held at the Moncton Stadium in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada from 19 to 25 July 2010. A total of 44 athlet ...

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/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

, Australia 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 we ...

meet in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...

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

, which was a

Commonwealth Games record Commonwealth Games records are the best performances in a specific edition of the event's history. As the Commonwealth Games only accepts athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, the records are not considered as prestigious as World records ...

. 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 The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy di ...

. 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 Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

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

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, 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 ( hr, Hanžekovićev memorijal) is an athletics event at the Sportski Park Mladost athletic stadium in Zagreb, Croatia as part of the IAAF World Challenge Meetings. It was first organized in 1951. ''Hanžek'' (which is t ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Sl ...

. On 11 September Walsh won his first

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

meet with a throw of 21.39m in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. In the

2016 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 practice ...

, 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 Seventeen or 17 may refer to: * 17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese ...

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, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, ...

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 athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since renamed World Athletics. It was held bet ...

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

, Walsh equalled his own indoor Oceanian record.

Personal life

Walsh works part-time as a builder in

Timaru Timaru (; mi, Te Tihi-o-Maru) 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 coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home ...

. 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 challeng ...

Statistics

Personal bests

;Outdoor *

Shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

– Doha (2019) *

Discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an ancient sport, as demonstrated by t ...

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

Shot put season's best

Senior implement weight (7.26 kg) only.

Competition record

;

National titles

*Shot put: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 *Discus throw: 2013

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * * * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Tom 1992 births Living people New Zealand male shot putters Olympic male shot putters Olympic athletes of 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 competitors for New Zealand Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games silver medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games gold 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 20th-century New Zealand people 21st-century New Zealand people