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STUART WEIR SPEAKS TO THE NEW WORLD INDOOR CHAMPION, MICHELLE CARTER, WHO IS HOPING TO BETTER HER FATHER’S OLYMPIC SILVER IN THE SAME EVENT
MARK SHEARMAN
THE WOMEN’S shot put in the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships was an epic contest. It was one of the events in which athletes were introduced individually with a fanfare. And on this occasion the event lived up to its billing.
Valerie Adams, the Kiwi who dominated women’s shot put for so long, has still not fully regained her form after surgeries. She had to settle for third after American Michelle Carter took the lead with throws of 18.90m, 19.28m and 19.31m.
The event also followed a new protocol as all 11 competitors had three throws, the top eight receiving two more and finally the top four having a sixth throw.
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Carter still led with 19.31m as the final four each had their last throw. Anita Martin of Hungary found a big one and a national record, 19.33m, to snatch the lead from Carter. But Carter, with the last throw of the contest, regained the lead with a worldleading 20.21m.