On The Up: In the palm of his hand – Hawke’s Bay shot putter Nick Palmer closes in on world championships dream

Nick Palmer in action in New Zealand. The 25-year-old Hawke's Bay athlete is in his best form in Europe, adding 25cm to his personal best in the shot put in two throws over the last week. Photo / Athletics New Zealand

Hawke’s Bay athlete Nick Palmer has moved two big steps towards becoming a third New Zealand contender in this year’s World Athletics Championships men’s shot put event, by adding a quarter of a metre to his personal best in just three days.

With a previous best of 20.07m thrown at an international meeting in Christchurch in February 2024, the now 25-year-old former Karamu High School pupil was the only one to pass 20m when he threw 20.20m in winning at the Morton Games in Ireland on Friday.

Palmer followed that up on Monday with 20.32m for another win at village-square meeting the Sparkassen-Cup in Biberach, Germany.

“It was great,” he told Hawke’s Bay Today. “It’s a historic street event and the people that live there are huge fans, so it’s always a great atmosphere. It has a circle built in a town square. Very good German engineering.”

Palmer saved his best for last to snatch victory from German Eric Maihofer, who had thrown 20.09m, but has a career-best of 20.37m.

Some of the world’s best competitors in their events were at the meeting, including Olympic Games women’s shot put champion and German idol Yemisi Ogunleye.

Palmer’s efforts lifted him from 62nd to 44th in the world rankings in just three days, and with each country allowed no more than three representatives, the Ireland win had elevated him to 23rd in qualifying for September’s World Championships in Tokyo, for which the quota is 36.

Among the criteria for New Zealand selection is the potential to finish in the top 16, and Palmer told Hawke’s Bay Today he now needs to hit a New Zealand team selection standard of 20.50m.

He says a place in the top 16 in the championships rankings is also in his sights.

With a goal of joining Kiwi medal prospects Tom Walsh and Jacko Gill at the World Championships, Palmer has timed his form to the moment.

He’s heading straight to the World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany, where the shot put is contested on the weekend of July 23-24.

Palmer developed his interest in the shot put after a flash of inspiration while fishing on the beach in Napier when he was 10.

“I picked up a rock on the beach and chucked it a long way,” he once said. “My dad used to do athletics and he thought that I could be good at this.”

He competed in the shot put and discus at the 2014 Colgate Children’s Games and won the shot put, his “first decent victory”.

As a pupil of Karamu High School in Hastings, Palmer was the Hawke’s Bay Secondary Schools Sports Awards Supreme award winner in 2017, heading off teams award winners and national schools rugby First XV champions Hastings Boys’ High School and female sportsperson of the year and future national women’s 200m sprint champion Georgia Hulls.

He was at the time ranked No 6 on the World Under-18 men’s shot put list, after winning the Under-18 title at the Australian Athletice Championships.

Palmer is now based in Christchurch so that he can train with Walsh, and is also studying psychology through Massey University.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today and has 52 years of journalism experience, 42 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues and personalities.