Valerie Adams competes at the Diamond League event in London last week. Photo / Getty
Valerie Adams is facing twin challenges unlike any she's confronted since climbing to the top of the world shot put tree.
The New Zealand double Olympic champion was beaten early today for the third time in four meets since returning from surgery on her right arm and left shoulder late last year.
Adams finished fourth at the Stockholm Diamond League meeting, with a best throw of 18.69m, the win going to the thrower of the moment, German Christine Schwanitz.
Schwanitz, who will claim Adams' Diamond League crown if she throws in the final event on the shot put calendar in Zurich early in September, won with a throw of 20.13m. American Michelle Carter was second (19.24m) and Hungary's Anita Marton third with an 18.74m.
Take away the disgraced Belarussian Nadzeya Ostapchuk, who briefly denied Adams her 2012 Olympic gold before being banned, and not since scaling the heights with her first Olympic win in 2008 has Adams been tested in the circle to this degree, and with the world championships around the corner.
However there is optimism, and confidence, within Athletics New Zealand that Adams will be back.
"I guess what we don't know is the time frame for full recovery," convenor of selectors Graham Seatter said today.
"To be fair she may not know that either, but I would imagine at some time in the future she'll be back to near her best."
Adams' winning streak, a staggering 56 successive victories, began in August 2010, with victory at Brussels last September.
In all that time, only five times was her best throw below 20m.
Since early last month when she returned to competition, Adams has put up best efforts of 18.79m (fifth in Paris on July 4); 18.73m (first in Lucerne, July 14, in a weakened field), 18.59m (second in London last Sunday) and now 18.69m (fourth in Stockholm).
"It must be frustrating for her," Seatter said.
"She's been unbeatable for so long it's going to be a real test of her character. It is unknown territory, but the thing I have a lot of confidence in is her ability to deliver, so I'm quietly confident, but also optimistic."
Seatter said there will be elements of fitness and technique which Adams and her coach Jean-Pierre Egger will be working on.
"They probably know the recovery time from the operations to being 100 percent fit and healthy. The thing that's a bit harder to predict is when the technique returns to it's best."
The world championships begin in Beijing on August 22, the same day of Adams' qualification and final events. That'll be Adams' and Egger's target date.
"They have so much experienced individually and as a team, that you hope it will come together in a case of perfect timing," Seatter added.
A turning tide?
In the first three years of Valerie Adams' 56-event winning streak, from the end of 2010 to the end of 2012, she had only one true rival: disgraced drugs cheat Nadzeya Ostapchuk.
German Christine Schwanitz was initially competitive - her best throws in 2011 and 2012 were better than anything Adams has managed this year - but some way off disrupting the established top two.
That began to change in 2014, however. With Ostapchuk serving a lengthy ban, Adams was left alone as the queen of the sport, but Schwanitz was the consensus second and beginning to close in.
Then, this year, with Adams struggling in her recovery from surgery and Schwanitz surging to a new personal best, it's been no contest.
2010
Adams best: 20.86
Ostapchuk best: 20.95
Schwanitz best: 18.28
2011
Adams best: 21.24
Ostapchuk best: 20.94
Schwanitz best: 19.20
2012
Adams best: 21.11
Ostapchuk best: 21.58
Schwanitz best: 19.05
2013
Adams best: 20.98
Ostapchuk best: -
Schwanitz best: 20.41
2014
Adams best: 20.67
Ostapchuk best: -
Schwanitz best: 20.22
2015
Adams in four events: 18.79, 18.73, 18.59, 18.69
Schwanitz best four events: 20.77, 20.60, 20.36, 20.31